2024 college football – Syndication Server

Where Phil Steele projects Clemson to finish in 2024 ACC football standings

Clemson edged out Florida State for the top spot in Phil Steele’s projections for the 2024 ACC football season.

Phil Steele has made his projections for the 2024 college football season and where the Clemson Tigers will finish in the ACC.

Steele has the Tigers edging out Florida State to finish atop the ACC. Doing so would ensure Clemson of reaching the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2020. The Playoff is expanding to 12 teams this season with automatic bids for the four Power Four conference champions and the highest-ranked Group of Five team.

Clemson finished 9-4 last season after a 4-4 start. They rallied to win their final five games and will return starters Barrett Carter (linebacker), defensive linemen T.J. Parker, Peter Woods and DeMonte Capehart, as well as defensive backs R.J. Mickens and Khalil Barnes.

On offense, quarterback Cade Klubik is a returning starter. Running back Phil Mafah, receiver Tyler Brown and tight end Jake Briningstool return on offense, as well.

On3 Sports wrote about Steele’s projections and where Clemson ranks:

“Clemson returns starting quarterback Cade Klubnik who could be poised to take a jump entering his second full season as a starter. But with head coach Dabo Swinney‘s lack of transfer portal use this offseason, all eyes will be on the Tigers to see how they perform.”

For their part, Florida State went 12-0 in the regular season last year and defeated Louisville in the ACC Championship Game but were left out of the final four-team College Football Playoff in favor of one-loss SEC Champion Alabama.

The Seminoles will have a different look this season due to roster turnover. They lost 10 players to the 2024 NFL Draft, and 17 players left via the transfer portal; FSU also added 17 players, including former Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, former Georgia EDGE Marvin Jones Jr. and Alabama transfers Roydell Williams and Malik Benson, among others.

Also per On3:

Uiagalelei headlines the Seminoles’ transfer portal additions this offseason. A dual-threat weapon coming off of his best season to date (Uiagalelei) will represent the first quarterback not named Jordan Travis of the Mike Norvell era.

Clemson and Florida State will play October 5 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Before that, the Seminoles will kick off the 2024 college football season in “Week 0” against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland, on August 24.

The Tigers will open their season against Georgia in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on August 31.

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Clemson vs. Georgia is 247Sports’ top 2024 non-conference college football game

The Tigers-Bulldogs Week 1 matchup is the highest non-conference game on the list.

How big is the Clemson Tigers’ contest against the Georgia Bulldogs to open the 2024 college football season? Big enough that 247Sports ranked it as the top non-conference game on the 2024 schedule.

In his list of the “top 10 college football rivalry games that will define the 2024 season,” 247Sports’ Grant Hughes ranks Clemson-Georgia ahead of the Tigers’ annual matchup with Florida State, scheduled for October 5 in Tallahassee.

Clemson will be heavy underdogs when it heads to Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium to face a Georgia team that has been a consensus No. 1 or No. 2 in various way-too-early/post-spring Top 25 rankings. The Bulldogs went 12-0 in the regular season last year in their bid to become college football’s first three-peat national champion since Minnesota in 1934-36.

Georgia fell to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, 27-24, sending the Crimson Tide to the College Football Playoff in Nick Saban’s final season. The Bulldogs settled for the Orange Bowl, where they soundly defeated ACC champion Florida State, 63-3.

Kirby Smart’s team returns key starters this season in quarterback Carson Beck, receiver Dillon Bell, defensive back Malaki Starks, EDGE Mykel Williams and others.

Per Hughes:

The Chick-fil-A Kickoff in Atlanta is the setting for another exciting Week 1 matchup between the ACC and SEC. The Tigers are looking to re-establish themselves as national powers, and who better to do it against than Kirby Smart and Co.? The Bulldogs lost 20 players to the transfer portal this offseason and have a lot of roster shuffling to do before Week 1.

For Clemson, the Tigers suffered four losses for the first time since 2011 after getting off to a dismal 4-4 start last season. They rallied to win their final five games — including a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback against Kentucky in the Gator Bowl — and finish 9-4.

The Tigers boast a plethora of returning starters as well, most notably on defense. Linebacker Barrett Carter, defensive linemen T.J. Parker, Peter Woods and DeMonte Capehart are set to return, as are defensive backs R.J. Mickens and Khalil Barnes. On offense, quarterback Cade Klubik returns, as does running back Phil Mafah, receiver Tyler Brown and tight end Jake Briningstool.

Adds Hughes:

Dabo Swinney’s squad will be looking to pounce. Clemson will either enter Week 2 as a bonafide College Football Playoff contender or behind the 8-ball for a fourth-straight season. A Georgia loss would temper expectations quickly in Athens.

Clemson vs. Georgia is set for a noon EDT kickoff on August 31. The game will be nationally televised by ABC.

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Clemson linebacker Barrett Carter makes Athlon Sports’ preseason All-America team

Plenty of buzz surrounds the Clemson linebacker as he gets set to enter his senior season at Clemson in 2024.

The buzz around Clemson linebacker Barrett Carter entering the 2024 college football season is already plenty high.

Carter will be entering his senior season with the Tigers after choosing to return for another year at Clemson when many believed he could have been chosen as a high-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Athlon Sports recently announced its preseason All-American teams for players on offense, defense and special teams. To no surprise, Carter made Athlon’s First Team list along with three other highly touted linebackers: LSU’s Harold Perkins, Oklahoma’s Danny Stutsman and Iowa’s Jay Higgins.

Per 247Sports’ breakdown of Athlon’s All-America selection of Carter:

Barrett Carter is among the most versatile defensive players in college football and returns to Clemson for his senior season with 21 tackles for loss, nine sacks, 14 pass breakups, three interceptions and two forced fumbles in his career.

Carter finishing second on the team with 67 tackles (9.5 for loss) in 2023. He also recorded 3.5 sacks, six pass breakups and an interception while garnering All-ACC honors.

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Cade Klubnik is this analyst’s biggest question mark for Clemson football

Clemson Tigers football: Cade Klubnik is the Tigers’ biggest question mark in spring practice and entering the 2024 season, according to this college football analyst.

After a 4-4 start last season, Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik faced more than his share of doubts from fans and pundits alike.

A five-game winning streak that included a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback and 38-35 win against Kentucky in the Gator Bowl to close the season isn’t enough to quell all of Klubnik’s critics, either.

In fact, CBS Sports’ Chip Patterson lists Klubnik as the Tigers’ biggest question mark in spring practice and heading into the 2024 season.

Asking if Klubnik can up his performance from a season ago, Patterson writes:

“Clemson’s coaching staff is challenging Klubnik, the former five-star prospect who enters his junior season with 21 touchdowns and 12 interceptions as a Tiger, and looking for him to improve in several ways in order to unlock the offense’s full potential. They want Klubnik to get stronger and have more pocket awareness (he took 28 sacks in 2023) as well as get a better feel for situational football after some of his more disappointing moments came in key spots of close losses.”

Patterson notes that the burden doesn’t fall squarely on Klubnik’s throwing shoulder and highlights coach Dabo Swinney’s program’s need to develop solid receivers.

To that end, incoming freshman and five-star recruit Bryant Wesco has been on many lists of players turning heads in spring practice this year.

Per Patterson:

“This is not a one-man scenario, though; Clemson needs pass catchers and a solid offensive line to help Klubnik in those efforts. Given his blue-chip pedigree, it’s fair to look for a big step forward from the Tigers quarterback in his second full season as a starter.”

Klubnik finished his sophomore season with 19 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He completed 64 percent of his passes and threw for 2,844 yards in 13 games.

Malaki Starks given high marks in preseason defensive back rankings

Malaki Starks is limited for spring practice, but should have a big fall

Coming off of consensus All-American recognition in 2023, expectations could not be higher for Georgia safety Malaki Starks headed into 2024. As Starks prepares for his third and potentially final season in the red and black, multiple outlets have ranked him near or at the top of their defensive back rankings looking ahead to the 2024 season.

In ESPN’s ranking of the top returning defensive backs for the upcoming season, Starks was ranked first, trailed by Colorado’s Travis Hunter. He tied for the highest number of points based on the voting from the participating ESPN reporters, and received the top spot based on having more first place votes than Hunter.

Pro Football Focus also released their list of top graded safeties based on last season, with Starks being ranked second to Ohio State safety Caleb Downs. PFF described Starks as “an elite athlete who’s a standout run defender and tackler for the position while also consistently making plays in coverage.”

Starks is limited this spring after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Multiple ESPN analysts predict a first-round bye for Clemson in the 2024 12-team playoff

Multiple ESPN analysts are high on the Tigers for the 2024 college football playoff as it expands to 12 teams.

We are far away from the 2024 college football season, but opinions on the Clemson Tigers vary early in the offseason.

For some, Clemson is declining, which will continue in 2024. For others, Clemson heads into the upcoming season as the ACC favorite once again with an opportunity to make a serious run in the college football playoff. There’s no telling what will happen, but people love making predictions.

Recently, ESPN released an article discussing the 12-team college football playoff for 2024 and who they believe will make the first 12-team playoff. Here’s where things get really interesting.

Of the six analysts polled, David Hale, Chris Low, and Andrea Adelson have Clemson with a top 4 seed and a bye for the first round. Bill Connelly, Harry Lyles Jr., and Heather Dinich, on the other hand, have the Tigers completely out of the playoff.

So, there seem to be two trends here. You either believe Clemson is winning the ACC and locking themselves into a top 4 seed, or you think that they will not win the ACC and, ultimately, not make the playoffs.

Mind you, this doesn’t guarantee that Clemson wouldn’t make the CFP if they didn’t win the ACC, but it shows you how experts feel about their chances if they don’t. It’s the ACC Championship or bust for the Tigers in 2024.