On Wednesday’s edition of ESPN’s College GameDay podcast, host Rece Davis made a prediction about who he saw as the 2024 ACC champion.
“Reports of their has demise have been greatly exaggerated,” Davis intoned. “And the rest of y’all going to come on in on the ‘ROY bus’ and watch the Clemson Tigers come back to the playoff as the ACC champion.”
Should Clemson win the ACC, the Tigers would be one of the four power conference champions to earn a first-round bye in the new 12-team College Football Playoff.
Davis told co-host and veteran college football reporter Pete Thamel that he believed Florida State would win the regular season matchup against Clemson in Tallahassee on Oct. 5 but that the Tigers would prevail in a rematch in the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte.
“Rematch, two really good teams, Clemson wins the rematch because Clemson will be desperate to get in and Florida State will already have a spot sealed up,” Davis predicted. “I think both teams make the playoffs.”
Davis admitted that picking Clemson was “a bit of a gamble” with the caveat that the Tigers need to improve on an offense that finished 50th in total offense last season with 402.7 yards per game.
“If they don’t get better quarterback play with Cade Klubnik and they don’t get better offensive line play than they really have had the past two years, this is going to be another bad (prediction). But I’m gambling that you’re going to see some improvement in both of those areas in the second year under Garrett Riley,” Davis said.
“They’ve got a lot of guys coming back on offense. Offensive line, they’ve got four of their starters back. They’ve got a wrecking ball at running back, Phil Mafah. They’ve got some young receivers coming in that they’re really high on: a wide receiver freshman called Bryant Wesco that they like. TJ Moore, another freshman guy that they like. They have Tyler Brown back from last year and Antonio Williams returning from injury.”
“Don’t worry about their defense,” Davis added. “Their defense is going to be excellent, especially up front. They’ll give Georgia all it wants. I think Georgia wins the game opening week, but (Clemson’s defense) will give Georgia everything they want.”
Davis went on to imagine Dabo Swinney’s response to critics who have blasted the Tigers’ coach for not using the transfer portal. Clemson didn’t take a single player from the portal this year after going 9-4 last season, with Swinney even making the claim that most players in the portal weren’t “good enough” to play for the Tigers.
“Can you imagine what it’s going to be like if Clemson does what I just predicted? Think of Dabo in the first College Football Playoff news conference. ‘Yeah, poor little ol’ Clemson. We got here. We didn’t have any transfers. We didn’t take any,'” Davis said lightheartedly.
“There are guys like Peter Woods, a freshman last year who was really good on the defensive line. They’ve got a really good linebacker coming in, because they can still recruit the old-fashioned way in Sammy Brown, who’s a highly touted linebacker. So, I think they’re loaded, man. The question again is quarterback and offense line. They still need some skill guys. They need those freshman. Those freshman receivers, particularly, they have to be able to make plays down the field.”
Clemson-Georgia is set for a noon ET kickoff at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta August 31. The game will be televised nationally on ABC. Georgia was ranked the preseason No. 1 team in both the AP and coaches polls. Clemson was ranked No. 14.
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