Prior to Clemson’s 24-14 road win over Virginia Tech on Saturday, ESPN college football senior writer Pete Thamel gave his take on the Tigers’ 2024 campaign and the current state of Dabo Swinney’s program.

During an episode of ESPN’s College Football Live on Friday, Thamel opined that Clemson is stuck in the “upper middle class” of college football, with Thamel adding that the Tigers (No. 23) “don’t deserve” to be ranked in the first College Football Playoff rankings that were released last Tuesday.

Thamel also said he wanted to see a dominant performance by Clemson from start to finish against Virginia Tech.

“I just don’t know what to make of Clemson this season,” Thamel said. “The two times they’ve played formidable opponents, they’ve turtled, and in the other games, they’ve absolutely blitzed everybody. So, difficult situation. It’s never easy to play at Virginia Tech, even though this isn’t a vintage Virginia Tech team. … I want to see an authoritative performance by these Clemson Tigers. I want to see them dominate from end to end.

“They, quite frankly, don’t deserve to be ranked in the playoffs. They just haven’t beaten anybody right now. And it’s this team that’s stuck in this upper middle class netherworld, where they’re not good enough to really be competing to the standard Dabo set early in his career there. But yet, they’re still very good by most conventional metrics. So, it’s a weird little situation they’re stuck in there, where they’re just in the upper middle class and they can’t break out.”

Of course, Clemson opened this season with a 34-3 loss to Georgia in Atlanta and then bounced back with six straight wins before being upset by Louisville, 33-21, on Nov. 2 at Death Valley. In their seven victories this season, the Tigers (7-2, 6-1 ACC) have beaten their opponents by a combined score of 315-141.

Clemson outscored Virginia Tech 24-7 in the second half en route to the 10-point win at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va., on Saturday.

The Tigers held the Hokies (5-5, 3-3 ACC) to just 228 total yards while forcing three turnovers. Clemson totaled 378 yards and 20 first downs, and defensively, the Tigers held the Hokies to just 40 rushing yards on 21 attempts.

Clemson will wrap up both its 2024 road schedule and its 2024 ACC slate this week when the Tigers face the Pittsburgh Panthers at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 16 (12 p.m., ESPN).

A limited number of signed replica road signs from Cade Klubnik are available!  Visit Clemson Variety & Frame or purchase online!