Four Downs and a Bracket: Clemson is not as far from College Football Playoff as you think

OK, stop this madness. Stop it right now.

Before we start throwing Dabo Swinney into the same deep end as Billy Napier, let’s take a deep breath and reassess. Relax, people.

First Down

Clemson is not as far from the College Football Playoff as you’d think.

“We certainly took one, punched right in the gut,” Swinney said in the press conference postmortem of yet another Georgia opponent limping away battered and bruised. “Didn’t play those last two quarters like we know we can.”

And that’s the key. Clemson traded blows for two quarters with Georgia, which in case you don’t know by now, is really good at tackle football. That doesn’t make an embarrassing 34-3 loss feel any better, but it absolutely shows all isn’t lost.

In fact, it shows Clemson can beat anyone in the shaky ACC — including Miami after its beatdown of Florida — with the same defensive intensity and a better game from quarterback Cade Klubnik. Because frankly, he can’t play much worse.

So while every television bobblehead will tell you Clemson’s undoing at the hands of the best team in college football over the last three seasons is a referendum on Swinney’s avoidance of all things transfer portal, think deeper. It’s easy to panic, to take one bad half and paint with a wide primer brush.

But there’s too much good on a defensive line that Georgia struggled to block in the first half. Too much good in the run game behind an improved offensive line. Too much potential with tailback Phil Mafah, and man-mountain defensive tackle Peter Woods and young wideout Antonio Williams. And too much average in the ACC outside of Miami.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney reacts after a call by an official during his team’s game against Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Preseason favorite Florida State lost to Georgia Tech in Week 0, Playoff sleeper Virginia Tech lost at SEC tomato can…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/four-downs-bracket-clemson-not-041612928.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-01 04:16:12

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