Clemson: Was There an SEC Conspiracy to Get the Tigers Ranked?
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney received an early warning from his peers on Tuesday.
The coaches poll ranked Clemson as the No. 23 program in the preseason. The Tigers, ranked No. 4 to start the season last year, finished unranked with a 7-6 record.
They lost nine players to the NFL draft this spring, and many of the coaches don't think Dabo Swinney has done enough to keep the Tigers in the College Football Playoff chase.
Still, being ranked at all might be too much for a Clemson team with serious questions at quarterback.
During his show on Tuesday, Josh Pate relayed a conspiracy floating around that SEC coaches ranked Clemson in an effort for LSU to make an argument it beat a ranked team when the CFP select committee makes its final ranking. LSU will host Clemson in Week 1.
"There is no basis for the most hardcore of Clemson fanatics on this planet to rank that team in the preseason," Pate said.
"So much so that Clemson Addict, friend of the program on Twitter, said, 'If we're being 100% honest with ourselves, like brutally honest, 7-6 team coming off of nine players getting drafted, we're only ranked to give LSU a ranked win in week one. The SEC media machine thinks they're slick.'"
Would the SEC stoop to that level? One could see a few crafty coaches in the conference thinking that way. They are very good at hypotheticals.
Not everyone thinks this upcoming season will be all doom and gloom for Clemson. ESPN's Heather Dinich thinks the Tigers have a good shot to make the ACC Championship Game and make the CFP. They have a favorable schedule in the ACC.
Pate isn't buying any Clemson stock, saying they shouldn't be in the top 30.
“It is very much a quarterback battle right now," Pate said of Tait Reynolds and Christopher Vizzina. "Jesse, is this a typo at 23? Because I see the Clemson Tigerpaw, and certainly that can't be reality.
"Certainly, you meant to put something else. Certainly, this is just a graphical oversight. No, they're telling me that the coaches ranked Clemson 23rd… Dabo himself had to have looked at this when it came out and said, Who's really 23rd, though? They're like, 'No, sir, we're ranked.'”
A No. 23 ranking seems fair, given that Power teams that earn an 8-4 record can end the season ranked. Based on Swinney's entire history, there's a good reason to believe he can coach Clemson to that standard.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos