Clemson Tigers
Final Overview
With all of the losses on offense, and a few on defense, it is hard for me to see the Tigers making yet another ACC and national title run in 2017. There are far to many questions across the board for me to be able to say it and not laugh at myself. That said, this is still a dynamic Tiger team that can make a solid run for a good bowl birth, but to say that this is a title team once again is just not accurate. The early schedule is very tough, with games against Auburn at home and Louisville on the road, and Florida State comes to town in mid-November. I see Clemson as an eight or nine win team in 2017.
What Really Happened
Here is a case study as to why Dabo Swinney may be getting into Nick Saban territory. Not only was the picture of their offense murky, at best, last summer when I wrote my preview, The Tigers transcended that murk, and looked like the same team that they had a year ago in certain ways. Sure, there were slight deficiencies in certain areas, but the strength of this football team was supposed to be defensive, and it was. The Tigers dropped from allowing 18 points per game in 2016 to allowing just 12.8 per game this season. The offense did slow down somewhat, but that was always to be expected, but it did not slow down much, dropping just 4 points per game from scoring 39 last season to 35 this year. The biggest drop came in passing performance, where Kelly Bryant was trying to break into the shoes left by Deshaun Watson. The passing yardage dropped by almost 90 yards per game, but the run game improved from 169 yards per game to 204, so there was some get back there. The Tigers passed every test, despite falling in a strange loss at Syracuse, but they bounced right back, and blew through. What's scarier is that this team looks set for the foreseeable future now.
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