ESPN writer thinks Clemson will go unbeaten, again

ESPN College football writer Chris Low believes there is no one in the Atlantic Coast Conference that is on the same level with the Clemson Football program.

The Tigers have owned the ACC the last four years, posting a 34-2 record against league foes, including four ACC Championship Game victories. Clemson’s two loses were by a point to Pittsburgh in 2016 and by three points at Syracuse in 2017, a game in which it lost its starting quarterback.

Counting the last two ACC Championships Games, the Tigers have won 13 straight games over ACC competition.

“There is no one on Clemson’s level, especially with Florida State having dipped,” Low said on the Sports Talk Radio Network in Columbia Monday evening. “There’s just not. Depth, experience, playmakers on offense and defense.”

However, that does not mean Clemson is invincible. Low sees Syracuse and NC State as possible teams that can sneak up and bite the Tigers if they are not playing at their best.

“Is there someone that can challenge them? Yes. I mean, last year was the exception because they went unscathed, but the (two) years before that Pitt beat them and Syracuse beat them,” he said. “I think what (Dino) Babers has done, and what he is doing at Syracuse, you look across the ACC, there are some teams. For instance, Dave Doeren has been really consistent. I don’t think he has gotten the (credit) he is due with what he has done at NC State.”

The Wolfpack has posted back-to-back 9-win seasons, while Syracuse won 10 games last year, the first time its program has done that. But despite how good NC State has been and Syracuse’s sudden rise under Babers, Low still feels Clemson is head-and-shoulders better than everyone in the ACC.

“Does that mean they wouldn’t have a hiccup and lose to somebody? Yeah, that can happen,” he said. “But I still think they’re good enough that if they were to lose a game and then win the ACC Championship Game, I don’t see them left out of the playoff.

“If you ask me right now, how I feel, I think Clemson will go unbeaten again this year.”

If that happens, it will mark the third time the Tigers have posted unbeaten regular seasons in the last five years. Clemson went 12-0 in 2015 before suffering a loss to Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. And of course, last year, it went 12-0 in the regular season on its way to a 15-0 mark, including a win over Alabama in the national championship game.

Prior to 2015, Clemson posted undefeated regular seasons on just four other occasions, 1900 (6-0), 1948 (10-0), 1950 (8-0-1) and 1981 (11-0).