Clemson has won multiple national titles in the last decade, and the Tigers return a slew of starters from their team that won the ACC Championship last season and made a run to the College Football Playoff.

It seems as if the best is right there in front of Clemson this year, with the Tigers viewed by many as the heavy favorite to win the ACC yet again, return to the 12-team playoff, and even contend for their first national championship since 2018.

So, how is it justifiable that Dabo Swinney’s team is ranked outside of the top five, at only No. 6, in the recently released preseason Coaches Poll?

ESPN personality Paul Finebaum was asked that question during his weekly appearance on McElroy & Cubelic In The Morning.

Finebaum says he believes there’s “a bias” against Swinney right now.

“It’s really their first game last year, I don’t think has left a lot of people’s mind, when they were just ransacked by Georgia,” Finebaum said. “Losing at home against South Carolina also didn’t help. They didn’t get as much credit as maybe they deserve for pulling off that win against SMU. And their playoff game against Texas was OK. I mean, on a day of multiple blowouts, it was at least interesting.

“And I think there’s also a bias against Dabo Swinney right now. Instead of getting credit — which I know you give him, and I’ve come around. I was one of those critics of Dabo a couple years ago, as almost everyone was. He has just shut the noise out and has built this roster back to where it’s one of the better ones in college football. So, I think you add in all those things and people go, ‘Well, I can’t put them ahead of Georgia.’ Because they lost to Georgia. ‘Uh, I can’t put them ahead of this team, I can’t put them ahead of that team.’ And that’s how they end up where they are.”

As Finebaum admitted, it’s not too long ago when he was a notorious critic of Swinney and the Tigers’ football program, but like he mentioned, he’s flipped that script and has been singing Clemson’s praises this offseason like a lot of other pundits ahead of the upcoming campaign.

“To me, and I try to examine myself when I talk about Dabo Swinney, because he was so easy to count out,” Finebaum added when asked how coaching influences the perception of a team. “And by the way, we weren’t counting him out as a good coach. We weren’t counting him out as a good program. We were counting him out as that successor to the Saban dynasty, so to speak. Because they did slip.

“They’re back where they were really eight or nine years ago, and for a lot of reasons — a great defense, but also a difference-maker at quarterback.”