Scott Van Pelt seemingly feels as good about Clemson as you can feel about any college football team entering another season that figures to once again be wild and unpredictable.
The respected SportsCenter anchor and ESPN host recently appeared on the See Ball Get Ball show with former ESPN analyst and former Georgia/NFL linebacker David Pollack.
Van Pelt made it clear he’s bullish on Dabo Swinney’s team heading into the 2025 campaign – or, to use one of Clemson’s mantras, he appears to be “All In” with the Tigers.
“That’s their saying in Clemson [All In]. … I’ll put my chip in there with them. … That’s the thing I feel best about, the team that I believe in the most, that I just, I felt like I saw it last year,” Van Pelt said.
“They’ve invested within their program. They’ve retained the people that matter. They’ve got freaks on defense, and [Cade] Klubnik, I think, can do it. And you saw those young receivers grow throughout the year last year. That’s a team I really like.”
Van Pelt was asked if he’ll feel differently about Clemson, or LSU, depending upon the outcome of Saturday’s top-10 showdown at Clemson’s Death Valley (7:30 p.m., ABC).
“I need to see what it is that night,” Van Pelt said. “Think about how LSU has lost some of these games. Were they better than USC last year? They didn’t win, but felt like they maybe shoulda coulda. The Florida State game a couple years ago [in Orlando], they’re trading punches early and then they end up on the wrong end of that one.
“If they go in and it’s a hotly contested game that they lose, and nothing egregious happens and you take the L and you go home, it’s not eliminating. It’s not disqualifying. I feel like it would be far more significant if LSU did it [won] — A, because it’s on the road, and B, their schedule is a hell of a lot harder than Clemson’s is the rest of the way. You don’t have to dodge nearly as much live ammo in Clemson, but that is a team that [SportsCenter commentator and sports betting analyst] Stanford Steve [Coughlin] and I, all summer long, have been talking about.”
Van Pelt pointed back to how Clemson battled in last season’s College Football Playoff first-round loss at Texas before ultimately falling short against the Longhorns.
“Go back and look at what they did down there in Austin in that game,” he said. “They’re in the mix. It’s a two-score game in the end. … I felt like the buy-in they’ve done within their program, in this NIL era, where they’ve invested within their guys, retained their guys, built from within. There’s value in that, and I respect it. LSU, on the other hand, went out and said, ‘We’ve got a heck of a lot of money, and we’re going to go out and we’re gonna get us some guys.’ The game’s incredible.”
Van Pelt reiterated that it wouldn’t be a disqualifying loss for either Clemson or LSU, in terms of eventually making the 12-team College Football Playoff, though he thinks a win “would be a check in the bank that might be more valuable for LSU down the road than it would be for Clemson.”
“Because Clemson, I really think they’re going to be excellent,” he said. “But I’ve been reading a ton about LSU. They believe in their D, and they’re a team that has an incumbent at quarterback, that’s gonna give them a chance every game. So, like everybody, I just can’t wait to see it, and try not to overreact, which I know we’ll all do a great job of.”