Tag: Clemson Tigers

WATCH: Trevor Lawrence launches perfect TD strike

Watch Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence hit Amari Rodgers with a beautiful 44-yard touchdown pass

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is already showing off the skills that will likely make him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Going up against The Citadel on Saturday, Lawrence launched a beautiful deep ball that hit wide receiver Amari Rodgers in stride near the back of the end zone for a 44-yard touchdown.

Sure, it’s against The Citadel, but Lawrence’s deep-ball accuracy is one of many things NFL scouts are enamored with as they evaluate his skill set for the next level.

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Irish ranked high in CBS Sports first power poll

Dennis Dodd reacts to the first real weekend of college football and puts Notre Dame in a very good spot.

Usually outlets have a preseason power poll, then make adjustments after that. Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports didn’t do that, and waited until after the ACC and Big XII started play. As much as we all love preseason polls, this makes plenty of sense to wait, watch a weekend of games, then make decisions on where teams will slot in.

After an uninspiring 27-13 win over Duke, the Irish are fourth in Dodd’s initial power poll. It’s a great place to be in, as Dodd called Brian Kelly’s squad a front-runner in the ACC, along with Clemson.

Dodd saw the problem with the “veteran offensive line wasn’t overly impressive, but it was enough in a two-touchdown win over Duke.” I didn’t have much of an issue with a group that paved the way for 178 yards on the ground. Yes, Ian Book was sacked 3 times, but he wasn’t sharp early, as two of them came in the first half.

But enough with the supposed bad, the Irish are a top 4 team, which is exactly where they want to be. The November seventh matchup with Clemson continues to loom larger and larger. It is nice to be in a good spot, but it would be even better to finish the season inside the top four.

Gators a popular College Football Playoff pick among ESPN writers

After the conclusion of Week 2 of the college football season on Saturday, ESPN’s college football team has put out updated CFP predictions.

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After the conclusion of Week 2 of the college football season on Saturday, ESPN’s college football team has put out updated College Football Playoff predictions.

Its writers seem to like Florida as a playoff pick, as six of the 12 surveyed had the Gators in their playoff field, the fourth most behind the Alabama Crimson Tide, Clemson Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners.

More ESPN writers had UF in the CFP than the Georgia Bulldogs, as only five predicted the Bulldogs to make it to the Final Four.

Here is the full list of predictions.

Andrea Adelson: 1. Clemson, 2. Alabama, 3. Oklahoma, 4. Florida
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Clemson, 2. Alabama, 3. Oklahoma, 4. Florida
Bill Connelly: 1. Alabama, 2. Clemson, 3. Oklahoma, 4. Army
Heather Dinich: 1. Alabama, 2. Clemson, 3. Florida, 4. Oklahoma
David M. Hale: 1. Alabama, 2. Oklahoma, 4. Clemson, 4. Florida
Chris Low: 1. Alabama, 2. Clemson, 3. Georgia, 4. Oklahoma
Harry Lyles Jr.: 1. Clemson, 2. Oklahoma, 3. Alabama, 4. Georgia
Adam Rittenberg: 1. Clemson, 2. Alabama, 3. Florida, 4. Texas
Alex Scarborough: 1. Alabama, 2. Clemson, 3. Oklahoma, 4. Georgia
Mark Schlabach: 1. Clemson, 2. Alabama, 3. Oklahoma, 4. Georgia
Tom VanHaaren: 1. Alabama, 2. Clemson, 3. Oklahoma, 4. Florida
Dave Wilson: 1. Clemson, 2. Oklahoma, 3. Alabama, 4. Georgia

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Trevor Lawrence ‘planning’ on 2020 being his final season at Clemson

Unsurprisingly, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence will likely be making the jump to the NFL after the 2020 college football season

In the least surprising development of the 2020 college football season so far, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence has confirmed that this will likely be his final campaign as a member of the Tigers.

In a interview with ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi airing on “College Gameday,” Lawrence said he’s planning on this being his last season in college (via ESPN’s Field Yates):

Ever since his incredible freshman season that ended with a dominant win over Alabama in the national title game, Lawrence has been projected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. That’s not likely to change anytime soon, barring any major injury or serious on-field regression.

The only thing likely to keep Lawrence from being next year’s top pick would be a team that doesn’t need a quarterback ending up with that selection. The Jacksonville Jaguars are the early favorites to land that pick, though, and he would be a no-brainer if that ends up being the case.

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College GameDay: See Lee Corso’s headgear pick for Clemson-Wake Forest

Lee Corso disappointed guest picker Chris Paul by backing Clemson over Wake Forest.

College GameDay returned to the road for Week 2 of the college football season and staged Saturday’s show at Wake Forest’s Truist Field ahead of the Demon Deacons’ season-opener against No. 1 Clemson.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard and former Wake Forest star Chris Paul was the guest picker on Saturday, and he backed the Demon Deacons to pull off what would be a colossal upset. Lee Corso, however, put on the tiger head and picked Clemson.

Corso also picked Kansas over Coastal Carolina, App State over Charlotte, Iowa State over Louisiana, Florida State over Georgia Tech, North Carolina over Syracuse, Notre Dame over Duke.

Guest picker Chris Paul picked Kansas over Coastal Carolina, Charlotte over App State, Louisiana over Iowa State, Florida State over Georgia Tech, North Carolina over Syracuse, Notre Dame over Duke and Wake Forest over Clemson.

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ESPN and 247Sports make predictions ahead of ‘20 season

Experts from two major outlets predict how the 2020 ACC and college football season will play out.

Saturday can’t get here soon enough, but until then we have to count down the hours until the Irish kickoff against Duke at 2:30pm EST. While we wait, let’s take a look at how some of the biggest football analysts see the season playing out.

Over at ESPN, Mark Schlabach gave out his predictions to how the conference would shake out, the Irish finishing second behind Clemson, and conference awards, where the Irish went home empty handed. Notre Dame was featured in each of Schlabach’s game’s of the year: ACC conference game, non-conference game and upset of the year. The game of the year is obvious, when the Irish host Clemson on November 7, which Schlabach has Notre Dame winning. If correct, the Irish could potentially stop the Tigers from tying the longest winning streak in-conference play at 29 games set by FSU in the early 90’s.

When looking at the upset of the year, you won’t think the Irish would worry much about Pat Narduzzi’s Pittsburgh Panthers. A so-so offense, but solid defense, shouldn’t pose many problems from Brian Kelly and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees but Schlabach thinks Pitt will. Having home-field advantage won’t be much on an advantage for any team this year, as crowds aren’t expected to be capacity by any means. An upset would be very disappointing especially against the Panthers, as Notre Dame on paper is a much better team.

As for the non-conference game of the year, the tilt against South Florida won’t be an easy win, but should be a win regardless. It’s a bit concerning that Notre Dame didn’t sniff any of the individual awards, but if it’s wins over individual awards, the Irish will surely take it.

Over at 247Sports, it was more of a collective on how the season would play out. Six of their seven experts have the Irish making the ACC championship game, the other team with a berth was North Carolina. The end goal is winning an ACC championship, at least this year it is, getting to the College Football Playoff is a byproduct of winning the conference.

Staying with 247Sports, only one of their seven experts had Notre Dame in the final four of the CFP, Bud Elliott had them finishing 3rd overall. That’s the good news, back to ESPN, Schlabach has the Irish losing twice, once to the aforementioned Pitt and again to North Carolina. This loss would hurt the most, as Schlabach predicts it will knock the Irish out of a CFP spot. What hurts even more is the Irish will have a shot to beat Clemson twice, but fail to achieve the sweep and finish second in the ACC.

These are just predictions, a guess as to what the season will hold of the Irish as they venture into the ACC for the season. I think we all hope Elliott is correct, making the CFP would be exactly what Brian Kelly is looking for this season.

ACC reveals preseason projected standings

The media, 134 members total, gave their projections as to how the 2020 ACC season will play out. Find out where they place Notre Dame.

One week from today, we will all be excited, exploding with anticipation as the Irish are set to kick off their season the next day. Today, the results of the annual ACC media poll were released.

The Irish were the only other team to get votes to finish first, although Clemson got all except 2. If the projections are correct, the Irish and Tigers will face off twice, once during the regular season and again in the ACC Championship game.

Although the media members don’t project records, the 134 polled think the season will play out with the Irish at least having a chance for an ACC regular-season championship. Hopefully, they are wrong, or at worst the Irish split the games with the Tigers and give the College Football Committee something to think about when it releases the final rankings.

Clemson’s quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, was selected as the conference’s preseason player of the year. This isn’t a surprise at all, since most pundits have Lawrence as the projected first pick in next spring’s NFL draft.

USA Today projects ACC’s records, Two CFP teams?

The USA Today’s Paul Myerberg details how he sees the ACC playing out this season.

The season is just around the corner and the USA Today’s Paul Myerberg wondered if the ACC could potentially put two teams into the College Football Playoffs.

The two teams Myerberg is referencing are Clemson and your Fighting Irish. He proposes that if the after the two teams meet in their regular season matchup in November they “could meet again for the conference championship in December holding just one combined loss. In that scenario, the case will be made that even the loser deserves a spot among the final top four.”

It’s hard to argue with his logic, but if either of the teams finish undefeated while the other team has two losses, it’s hard to imagine having a two loss team make the CFP. If Notre Dame and Clemson split their regular season  and potential ACC Championship games, then yes, both teams would have a very solid argument that they deserve to be in the four team tournament.

Myerberg then projects the ACC’s individual team records, as the Irish finish second behind Clemson, with a 9-2 record. Clemson, in his projections, goes undefeated and would get the number one overall seed in the CFP. The Irish be left at the altar as the 5th team, barely missing their second playoff berth in the last 3 years.

Hopefully Myerberg is incorrect in his assessment of the season playing out in the ACC. The ideal situation would see the Irish beat Clemson twice and leave no doubt for the CFP committee to include them in the final four. Hell, a split of the games would work, as that should be enough this year for both teams to make it. Let’s hope it’s one of those two and not how Myerberg see’s the season playing out.

Notre Dame cracks Top 10 in Preseason AP Poll

For the second year in a row, Notre Dame is ranked inside the Top 10 in the AP preseason poll.

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As college football creeps closer and closer to it’s opening kickoff, the preseason AP Poll was released today and Notre Dame was the final team inside the Top 10.

This might seem a bit low, but the AP included teams from the Big Ten and the PAC-12, even though they will not be playing football this fall. Ohio State (2), Penn State (7) and Oregon (9), are all in front of the Irish, but that is just logistical right now. Essentially the Irish are the 7th rated team in the country.

Here is the full top 25:

  1. Clemson
  2. Ohio State
  3. Alabama
  4. Georgia
  5. Oklahoma
  6. LSU
  7. Penn State
  8. Florida
  9. Oregon
  10. Notre Dame
  11. Auburn
  12. Wisconsin
  13. Texas A&M
  14. Texas
  15. Oklahoma State
  16. Michigan
  17. USC
  18. North Carolina
  19. Minnesota
  20. Cincinnati
  21. UCF
  22. Utah
  23. Iowa State
  24. Iowa
  25. Tennessee
Others receiving votes:

Memphis 86, Virginia Tech 85, Boise State 68, Arizona State 66, Miami (FL) 42, Louisville 32, Appalachian State 26, Washington 21, Kentucky 20, Indiana 19, Baylor 15, California 11, TCU 9, Virginia 7, Navy 6, Florida State 6, SMU 3, Mississippi State 3, Air Force 3, Northwestern 1, UAB 1

This is the second year in a row that Notre Dame Football will start off inside the Top 10, they were 9th in last years poll. In 2018, the Irish were just two spots outside the Top 10, beginning the year ranked 12th.

The expectations will be high in this odd season. The Irish will have to face the preseason number 1 team Clemson Tigers and the 18th ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. Those are the three lone ACC teams that were ranked by the AP. The SEC led everyone with 7 teams in the Top 25, while the Big Ten had 6 and the Big XII had 4. The PAC-12 tied the ACC with three teams also.

Alabama checks in at No. 3 in preseason AP Poll for 2020

The 2020 season’s initial AP Poll was released on Monday, and the Alabama Crimson Tide checked in at No. 3 behind Clemson and Ohio State.

For the first week of the upcoming college football season, the AP Poll will look like any other season. With every team having a chance to be represented, regardless of whether or not that team is actually playing in 2020.

The second week will look different, however, as those teams from major conferences such as the Big Ten and Pac-12 fall by the wayside as a result of the cancelation of their respective seasons due to COVID-19.

With all that being said, the initial AP Poll has officially been released, and, at least for now, the Alabama Crimson Tide checked in at No. 3 behind Clemson and Ohio State.

As the SEC Network pointed out, there are seven teams from the Southeastern Conference listed in the preseason AP Poll, including Alabama, Georgia (No. 4), LSU (No. 6), Florida (No. 8), Auburn (No. 11), Texas A&M (No. 13) and Tennessee (No. 25).

Unfortunately, eight of the teams included have already canceled fall sports in 2020, so expect major changes to this once Week 2 rolls around. Until then, enjoy what could have been.

Stay tuned for more updates from Roll Tide Wire, part of the USA TODAY Sports College Wire network!

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