Tag: heather dinich

Heather Dinich announces top six teams ahead of Week 12

Heather Dinich announces top six college football teams ahead of Week 12.

No. 5 Tennessee (9-1, 5-1 SEC) will play at South Carolina (6-4, 3-4 SEC) Saturday in Week 12.

Rankings reflect the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll.

Kickoff between the Vols and Gamecocks is slated for 7 p.m. EST at Williams-Brice Stadium. ESPN will televise the SEC East matchup.

Tennessee’s 2022 regular-season schedule features home games against Ball State (W, 59-10), Akron (W, 63-6), Florida (W, 38-33), Alabama (W, 52-49), UT Martin (W, 65-24), Kentucky (W, 44-6) and Missouri (W, 66-24).

The Vols’ 2022 schedule features road contests at Pittsburgh (W, 34-27 OT) in the second edition of the Johnny Majors Classic, LSU (W, 40-13), Georgia (L, 27-13), South Carolina and Vanderbilt.

Following Week 11 games, Heather Dinich announced her top six college football teams on ESPN. Dinich’s top six teams are listed below.

Finebaum, Dinich pile on Clemson, Bama

Paul Finebaum and Heather Dinich discussed Clemson and Alabama on ESPN’s Get Up show after the second set of College Football Playoff rankings were released Tuesday night. Finebaum was asked out of all the messages the CFP committee sent with the …

Paul Finebaum and Heather Dinich discussed Clemson and Alabama on ESPN’s Get Up show after the second set of College Football Playoff rankings were released Tuesday night.

Finebaum was asked out of all the messages the CFP committee sent with the latest rankings, what his biggest takeaway was.

Unsurprisingly, he took the opportunity to dismiss Dabo Swinney’s team.

“Say goodbye to Clemson. They are done,” Finebaum said. “They have absolutely no path back. This is unprecedented, outside of ’14, they’ve been around. Of course last year, we were able to survive without them. But this is so unbelievable to think that at this juncture of the season, Dabo Swinney’s team is done.”

Clemson has appeared in the College Football Playoff every year except for 2014 and 2021, while Alabama has made the playoff in each season but 2019.

There has never been an edition of the CFP that did not include either Alabama or Clemson, and both teams have made the playoff in the same season in five of the eight years since the playoff began in 2014.

Will this year be a first? Is there any path to the playoff for either Clemson (8-1, 6-0 ACC, No. 10 CFP rankings) or Alabama (7-2, 4-2 SEC, No. 9 CFP)?

Dinich, who covers the CFP for ESPN, was asked that question.

“No, and it’s not because of resume or wins or losses,” Dinich said. “These are not looking like top-four teams. Clemson got destroyed on the road at Notre Dame. They have quarterback issues. Alabama, all along — wide receiver drops, no push up front on the offensive line, penalties, turnovers, you name it. They’re not playoff teams.”

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

Dinich on where Clemson stands in CFP picture, how damaging Saturday’s loss was

On ESPN’s Championship Drive show, Heather Dinich was asked how damaging Clemson’s 35-14 loss at Notre Dame last Saturday night was to the Tigers’ College Football Playoff hopes. Clemson of course went to South Bend as the No. 4 team in the first …

On ESPN’s Championship Drive show, Heather Dinich was asked how damaging Clemson’s 35-14 loss at Notre Dame last Saturday night was to the Tigers’ College Football Playoff hopes.

Clemson of course went to South Bend as the No. 4 team in the first CFP rankings that were released last Tuesday night before being knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten.

“Oh, it’s severely damaging,” said Dinich, who covers the CFP for ESPN. “They lost by 21 points. Dabo Swinney called it after the game ‘a really bad day.’ I’ll one-up that and say it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, Clemson. They allowed touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams. They couldn’t stop the run, and stop telling me there aren’t questions at quarterback. When you have two, you don’t have one, and both of those players made way too many mistakes. This is not a top-four team. I was surprised a week ago the selection committee had them No. 4.”

In an article published Sunday on ESPN.com (subscription required), Dinich went into detail on where she thinks Clemson (8-1, 6-0 ACC) stands in the playoff picture after Saturday’s loss.

She believes the Tigers and the ACC are “hanging by a thread” as far as the playoff is concerned, and while Clemson has already clinched the Atlantic Division and could finish as a one-loss conference champion, she thinks the selection committee would favor a one-loss Pac-12 champ Oregon over one a one-loss ACC champ Clemson.

“Oregon’s lone loss was in the season opener to defending national champion Georgia, which should be the committee’s No. 1 team this week,” Dinich wrote. “The Ducks have won every game since in mostly convincing fashion. Oregon also has more opportunities remaining to impress the selection committee than Clemson, as the Ducks still face Utah on Nov. 19 and should face another ranked opponent in the Pac-12 title game if they make it.”

Dinich wrote that the selection committee could perhaps favor a one-loss Big 12 champ over Clemson as well, should TCU slip up and lose a game.

“And as long as TCU remains undefeated, Clemson should be concerned,” she wrote. “A one-loss TCU could have the edge against Clemson if they both win their respective leagues, but that would be a much bigger debate.”

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

Dinich on the conference that ‘could be in trouble’ as far as the playoff

Heather Dinich, who covers the College Football Playoff for ESPN, joined the network’s Get Up show Wednesday morning after the first College Football Playoff rankings were revealed Tuesday night. While Michigan is on the outside looking in right now …

Heather Dinich, who covers the College Football Playoff for ESPN, joined the network’s Get Up show Wednesday morning after the first College Football Playoff rankings were revealed Tuesday night.

While Michigan is on the outside looking in right now — coming in at No. 5 in the initial rankings behind No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Clemson — the Wolverines still control their own destiny to the playoff given that they will play Ohio State in the final week of the regular season.

And there’s no way an undefeated Big Ten champion doesn’t end up in the playoff?

“No, that’s right,” Dinich said. “Undefeated Big Ten champ is in. SEC champ is in, even if it is a two-loss LSU. Undefeated Clemson is in this thing. But a lot can still happen. We know Georgia and Tennessee are going to play each other, Ohio State-Michigan — there is going to be room.”

Dinich added that the Big 12 “could be in trouble” when it comes to the playoff, though, with TCU debuting at No. 7 in the first rankings behind Alabama at No. 6.

“TCU has got to stay undefeated,” she said, “and they have to look better in the process because they are undefeated right now and they are looking up at one-loss Alabama.”

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

ESPN’s Dinich, Pollack discuss signals sent by CFP Committee with first rankings

ESPN’s Heather Dinich and David Pollack joined the network’s Get Up show Wednesday morning to discuss the first College Football Playoff rankings that were released Tuesday night. Dinich was asked what the most important signals were that the CFP …

ESPN’s Heather Dinich and David Pollack joined the network’s Get Up show Wednesday morning to discuss the first College Football Playoff rankings that were released Tuesday night.

Dinich was asked what the most important signals were that the CFP Committee sent with the initial rankings, and she pointed to Michigan being ranked No. 5 behind No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Clemson.

“Well I will start with Michigan,” she said. “I thought it was an indictment on their schedule, and if you look at the top 15 teams, Michigan has the worst schedule strength at 79. Their non-conference opponents Colorado State, Hawaii and UConn are a combined 8-18. So, what does that mean?  They better beat the Buckeyes or they are not going to get into the College Football Playoff.”

Pollack discussed how the CFP Committee valued Tennessee’s resume when slotting the Volunteers at No. 1 but favored the eye test when putting Ohio State ahead of Georgia.

“It is the same as we see every year. Sometimes they use the eye test and sometimes they use the script and the strength of schedule,” he said. “If you look at Tennessee, they are clearly No. 1. They beat LSU and Alabama, that is two top-10 teams. But then you look at Ohio State. What they have done so far is definitely not as impressive as Georgia. They thought Ohio State was better. Clemson is very interesting.”

As for TCU checking in at No. 7 in the first CFP rankings, Pollack thinks the committee sent a clear message to the Horned Frogs.

“How about TCU? TCU falling all the way down. That is a message to TCU,” he said. “Like, how far can they climb when you look at their schedule and what they have left? Baylor and at Texas, but it was a message to me that TCU, like you are not a complete football team.”

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

ESPN analysts give their top 6 ahead of first CFP rankings release

The first iteration of the College Football Playoff rankings for the 2022 season will be unveiled tonight between 7-8 p.m. on ESPN. Ahead of the initial rankings release, a number of ESPN analysts have given their own individual rankings of how they …

The first iteration of the College Football Playoff rankings for the 2022 season will be unveiled tonight between 7-8 p.m. on ESPN.

Ahead of the initial rankings release, a number of ESPN analysts have given their own individual rankings of how they think the best teams in college football stack up.

Joey Galloway and Dan Mullen each gave their top six rankings on College Football Final:

Galloway

  1. Tennessee
  2. Georgia
  3. Ohio State
  4. Michigan
  5. Clemson
  6. TCU

Mullen

  1. Tennessee
  2. Georgia
  3. TCU
  4. Ohio State
  5. Clemson
  6. Michigan

On ESPN’s Championship Drive, Kevin Connors, Heather Dinich, Sam Acho and Trevor Matich all gave their CFP top six selections, doing their best to suggest what the rankings might look like tonight:

Connors

  1. Tennessee
  2. Michigan
  3. Georgia
  4. Ohio State
  5. Alabama
  6. TCU

Dinich

  1. Ohio State
  2. Georgia
  3. Tennessee
  4. Michigan
  5. TCU
  6. Clemson

Acho

  1. Tennessee
  2. Georgia
  3. Ohio State
  4. Michigan
  5. TCU
  6. Clemson

Matich

  1. Georgia
  2. Tennessee
  3. Ohio State
  4. Alabama
  5. Michigan
  6. TCU

Tonight’s CFP rankings are the first of six that will be released weekly through November and in early December. The final rankings will be announced on Sunday, Dec. 4.

The 2022-23 College Football Playoff semifinals and national championship game are scheduled for Dec. 31, 2022 and Jan. 9, 2023.

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

Clemson fans mixing it up with ESPN’s Dinich on Twitter

ESPN’s Heather Dinich was called out by Clemson fans during the Ohio State-Penn State game on Saturday. Dinich, who covers the College Football Playoff for ESPN, tweeted about the Buckeyes losing to the Nittany Lions, 21-16, in the fourth quarter: …

ESPN’s Heather Dinich was called out by Clemson fans during the Ohio State-Penn State game on Saturday.

Dinich, who covers the College Football Playoff for ESPN, tweeted about the Buckeyes losing to the Nittany Lions, 21-16, in the fourth quarter:

A Clemson fan then responded to Dinich, writing on Twitter, “Didn’t you say last week if you’re trailing a top 15 team in the 4th you aren’t a top 4 team? Let’s be consistent.”

Another person chimed in via Twitter as well, writing to Dinich, “Will no doubt have excuses for OSU pathetic performance today…”

That person also brought up Dinich’s tweet from last week, when Dinich wrote on Twitter that nothing she saw during Clemson’s comeback 27-21 win over a then-top-15 Syracuse team “screamed top four” about the Tigers.

Dinich responded, writing that if she were a Clemson fan, she’d be less worried about her and more so about what Notre Dame did to Syracuse on Saturday during the Irish’s 41-24 road win over the Orange.

The Tigers, of course, play at Notre Dame next Saturday.

Not only did Dinich not think Clemson looked like a top-four team last week, but although Ohio State trailed Penn State with around nine minutes left before coming back to win, she wrote on Twitter that she thinks the victory strengthened Ohio State’s case to be the No. 1 team in the country:

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

ESPN’s Dinich gives her top 4 after Week 8

Heather Dinich, who covers the College Football Playoff for ESPN, revealed her top four teams via Twitter on Monday following Week 8 of the college football season. Dinich doesn’t have Clemson (8-0, 6-0 ACC) in her top four. Instead, she has Ohio …

Heather Dinich, who covers the College Football Playoff for ESPN, revealed her top four teams via Twitter on Monday following Week 8 of the college football season.

Dinich doesn’t have Clemson (8-0, 6-0 ACC) in her top four. Instead, she has Ohio State, Georgia, Tennessee and Oregon as her top four teams, in that order.

Ohio State beat Iowa, 54-10, in Columbus on Saturday, while Georgia  had an open date this past weekend. Tennessee took care of business against UT Martin in Knoxville, winning 65-24, and Oregon earned a home victory over previously unbeaten UCLA, 45-30.

Dinich explaned why the Buckeyes currently own the top spot in her rankings:

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

ESPN analysts discuss Clemson’s QB switch in Syracuse game

During the Championship Drive: College Football Rewind show that aired Sunday on ESPN, the network’s Sam Acho, Heather Dinich and Trevor Matich discussed Dabo Swinney’s decision to replace starting quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei with freshman Cade …

During the Championship Drive: College Football Rewind show that aired Sunday on ESPN, the network’s Sam Acho, Heather Dinich and Trevor Matich discussed Dabo Swinney’s decision to replace starting quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei with freshman Cade Klubnik in the second half of Clemson’s eventual 27-21 win over Syracuse on Saturday at Death Valley.

“To me, that move, it was a great coaching move — do what you need to do to win the game,” Dinich said. “But to me, it opens the door to say can Clemson win a national title with DJ U? Are they good enough? I don’t know.”

“He’s got a better chance than I would playing quarterback for them, and everything’s relative,” Matich added. “Klubnik is very talented, but I don’t know that he’s ready to implement the entire playbook yet.”

Uiagalelei, who entered Saturday’s game with 17 touchdown passes and only two interceptions, threw a pair of picks while also losing a fumble that was returned 90 yards for a touchdown.

Klubnik, the former five-star prospect from Austin, Texas, went just 2-of-4 passing for 19 yards in relief of Uiagalelei but helped ignite the Tigers’ offense while doing his part to rally the team from an 11-point deficit in the comeback victory.

Despite Uiagalelei’s struggles and subsequent benching, Swinney backed the junior following the game, saying he remains the Tigers’ starter and the team’s leader.

“It’s interesting that Dabo Swinney always talks in terms of competition, that even his stars need to earn their position in practice and in games every single day,” Matich said. “He doesn’t talk about DJ U like that. He says he’s our guy, that we sat him down at halftime but he’s coming back — he’s our guy.”

Acho likes Swinney saying that Clemson is sticking with Uiagalelei as the starter.

“I do like that move though, I really do,” he said. “Because you could say hey, he had a bad day, let him continue to be the starter and let Klubnik continue to learn as opposed to making a quarterback switch now and then it doesn’t go well.”

Added Matich: “That would be the worst thing because then instead of having Klubnik come off the bench, they’d have to make him the starter. Yay, a week of social media, and then oops, we made a mistake, sit back down kid. That’s something they should avoid. And by the way, DJ U is still getting better. He had a bad day.”

Overall, in eight games this season, Uiagalelei has completed 64.1 percent of his passes for 1,803 yards and 17 touchdowns with four interceptions, to go with 350 rushing yards and four more scores on the ground.

Klubnik has played in five games this season, completing 9 of 19 passes for 85 yards and a touchdown.

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

ESPN’s Dinich not sold on Clemson as playoff team

Heather Dinich, who covers the College Football Playoff for ESPN, apparently isn’t sold right now on Clemson as a top-four playoff team. The fifth-ranked Tigers came back to beat then-No. 14 Syracuse on Saturday at Death Valley, 27-21, and in the …

Heather Dinich, who covers the College Football Playoff for ESPN, apparently isn’t sold right now on Clemson as a top-four playoff team.

The fifth-ranked Tigers came back to beat then-No. 14 Syracuse on Saturday at Death Valley, 27-21, and in the process Clemson remained perfect on the season with an 8-0 record (6-0 ACC).

Despite the unblemished resume to this point, Dinich doesn’t seem to think the Tigers are a lock to make the playoff — even if they win out.

Dinich responded to a post from Jared Stillman on Twitter that reads, “Clemson survives. Their schedule is pretty easy. Probably securing a CFP spot.”

Dinich wrote, “I don’t know. Nothing I saw today screamed top four.”

Another Twitter user, Jonathan Cumberland, then replied to Dinich by writing, “Agreed, but it doesn’t matter, right? If they go undefeated they’ll get in and their schedule remaining is begging them to go undefeated.”

Dinich replied, writing, “They’re not the only undefeated team left. Let’s see what happens.”

She added that Clemson’s toughest remaining test will be the ACC title game, but she isn’t sure the Tigers will win that if they have the type of turnover problems they did against Syracuse when Clemson survived four turnovers.

“You are right, though, their toughest remaining game will be the ACCCG,” Dinich wrote. “If they turn it over like they did today, though, they might not win it. They are fortunate Cuse couldn’t do jack w/ those.”

Clemson is one of six unbeaten teams left in college football after Week 8, along with Georgia, Ohio State, Tennessee, Michigan and TCU.

Following a bye week, the Tigers will return to action on Nov. 5 at Notre Dame before wrapping up the regular season with three straight home games against Louisville, Miami and South Carolina.

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!