5 Facts for the Tigernet weak of heart...

Sep 29, 2019, 8:49 PM

Ok Tigernet - now that everyone's heart rate has gotten back to normal and all the chicken littles have finished posting, I thought I would try to bring some facts to light that some of the worry warts on here may not be aware of.

Fact 1: Only 4 teams out of the 130 FBS football teams have played four Power 5 opponents as of this week in the football season. Those four teams are Clemson, UNC, Stanford, and USuC. Here are the records of those four teams:
Clemson: 5-0 and has beaten all four Power 5 opponents
UNC: 2-3; has beaten only 2 of their four Power 5 opponents
Stanford: 2-3; has beaten only 2 of their four Power 5 opponents
USuC: 2-3; has beaten only 1 of their four Power 5 opponents

Clemson has already done something this season that none of the other 129 FBS football teams has done - gone undefeated against four Power 5 opponents. Furthermore, Clemson is the only team in the FBS to have 3 conference wins as of today. Do not discount this accomplishment in the first 5 weeks of a season.

Fact 2: If we are undefeated at the end of the regular season, the fact that we only beat UNC by 1 point will be even more irrelevant at the end of the season than it will be two weeks from now. We will be in the ACC Championship game and at that point it will be "win and we are in".

Fact 3: Polls, particularly the AP, Coaches, ESPN Power Rankings, Herbstreit's top 5, Klatt's top 5, Finebaum's opinion etc... are absolutley worthless in the big scheme of college football in the CFP era. Why anyone gets upset over these "polls" is beyond me. There is only one poll that matters - the CFP Committee (CFPC) poll that starts in November. Quite frankly, the only poll of the CFPC that matters is the last one on 8 December 2019. Who cares if we are number 1 or number 4 - none of the CFP games are "home" games and if we have done what we need to do to be in the top 4 rest assured Clemson will make it to the National Champ Game.

Fact 4: We are playing and have played typical September Clemson football that is within the norm of our run of 10+ win seasons. Our offense shows flashes of what it is capable of but too often looks inconsistent. The offensive inconsistencies usually clear up in October and by November we are dominating our opponents. As long as we are winning these early season contests the worry factor should be minimal as Dabo and company have a proven track record of being absolute juggernauts come the Championship run portion of the season (i.e. mid-October to the end of the season). If we follow our norm, come November, no one is going to be talking bad about Clemson's offense...

Fact 5: I hate to mention this, but we will eventually lose a game. Whether we lose a game this year, next year or 5 years from now it is going to happen. So.... for the love of the Lord, please don't lose your minds when this happens. It is a rare occasion to go undefeated through 15 potential games in a season. There is a reason we are the only team to have accomplished this in the modern era. Enjoy the fact that we have a team good enough to do it, but even with the great talent Clemson has, at some point some other team is going to have that special game where they just beat us on a particular day. At that point, be a man about it, congratulate the other team and count on Clemson using the experience to get better. Yes it could potentially ruin what we hope to accomplish in a particular season, but all need to remember we are an elite program and one loss is not indicative that the program is on the slide or is a "flash in the pan". We are Clemson and we have been and will continue to be a Champion contender for the foreseeable future.

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5 Facts for the Tigernet weak of heart...

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