This isn’t a chance for No. 3 Clemson to put up or shut up.
It’s a chance for the Tigers to put up and shut up with one marquee victory against No. 12 Florida State on Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium, where they haven’t won since 2006.
“We're coming off a good break and really like the mentality of our team,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinnney said on the ACC teleconference Wednesday. “I thought the break was really good for our guys.”
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“Really good” isn’t the perception with Clemson despite the fact they’ve won 21 straight regular-season games, a streak that dates back to Nov. 15, 2014. Or the fact the combined winning percentage of the opponents they’ve played this season is .649.
What’s the problem with Clemson? Where’s the team that gave Alabama everything and more in the College Football Playoff championship game last season?
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It’s not Deshaun Watson. He’s simply not running as much. It’s not the necessarily the running game either. Star running back Wayne Gallman has battled injuries but still has been productive. Swinney doesn’t see a problem. The rhythm of those up-tempo offenses fluctuates, and that’s where the Tigers are at right now.
“Sometimes you get into these games and sometimes our runs turn into passes,” Swinney said. “Y'all don't know that and the media don't know that; y'all just see passes. But it's things that are built within our system that happen.”
It’s not the scoring. Clemson ranks 26th in the nation with 36.6 points per game. They were 16th with 38.5 ppg last season. It’s not even the turnovers. Clemson is 19th in the country with 16 turnovers after ranking eighth with 27 turnovers in 2015.
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So, it’s like this: the Tigers are in the same position Florida State was in 2014 after winning a national championship. They are getting everybody’s best shot in the regular season. Auburn nearly hit a game-ending Hail Mary and NC State should’ve made that field goal, but they didn’t. Clemson didn’t lose those games. Auburn and NC State did.
The hypotheticals around Louisville and Heisman Trophy frontrunner Lamar Jackson getting a second team in the ACC are fun, but to be clear the Cardinals are second in the pecking order. This isn’t a TCU-Baylor situation like 2014, and it shouldn’t be. Clemson won the game. End of story unless they either lose two games or don’t win the ACC championship.
It’s also not Clemson’s fault that Florida State enters a game that could’ve been a top-five showdown with two losses. This is still a marquee matchup — if not the marquee matchup — in the ACC. Expect the Seminoles to play like it. This is an opportunity for the Tigers to win a huge game on the road and silence some of those critics.
Those are all perceptions. The reality for Clemson is winning this game would keep them in the driver's seat in the ACC and they’ll be one of the top four teams in the first College Football Playoff rankings. Nobody has been better at winning games in the regular season since 2015. Put up and shut up? The critics will always be there no matter, but here’s what we know.
Clemson is still “really good,” and there’s room to get better. A win against the Seminoles would eliminate most of those perceptions and make it a clear as to who the best team in the ACC really is.
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“The main thing is finishing those drives and doing a better job of taking care of that football,” Swinney said. “So I think if we do that, then the rest of it will come together like we want.”
