Is Clemson Being Fed too Much ‘Rat Poison’?

Remember when Nick Saban came out with his “Rat Poison” speech?

It was classic Saban, as he took his team’s accolades during another great season and turned them into a negative.

The former Alabama head coach coined the phrase “Rat Poison” to hound media for handing out too much praise to the Crimson Tide a few years back, causing his team to become complacent and not play up to their standard.

At least that is how he felt about it.

I have to image Dabo Swinney is telling his team not to eat the “rat poison” that is being dished up all around them these days. The Tigers were the overwhelming preseason pick to win the ACC, as they received 167 of a possible 181 first place votes.

But the praise has not stopped there.

Quarterback Cade Klubnik was dubbed as the preseason favorite to win ACC Player of the Year honors. A record 11 Tigers were named Preseason All-ACC by the media, the most by any school in the 49-year history of the vote.

All week-long ESPN personalities Paul Finebaum and Heather Dinich have been singing Clemson’s praises. Dinich even said ESPN’s College Football Playoff predictor was wrong when it came out and said the Tigers had a 2.7 percent chance to win the national championship.

Obviously, none of us know what is really going to happen but the concern for the Tigers to live up to expectations is a real thing.

Remember the Sports Illustrated Jinx? There was a time if a team or player made the cover of Sports Illustrated, they were destined for failure.

There was the Madden Curse, as well. If a player was put on the cover, he was in trouble.

I am not saying I believe in all that mumbo jumbo, and I do, but it is something to think about.

There is some good news, though. The ACC media, which started its preseason poll in 1976, has accurately predicted the eventual ACC Champion 60 percent of the time.

As a matter of fact, the ACC media has predicted Clemson to win the football championship 16 times, with this year being the 16th. The Tigers have gone on to win the ACC Championship 10 times in those 15 other years.

You do the math. That is a 67 percent success rate. It’s seven percent higher than the norm.

But I do not want to be accused of putting too much “Rat Poison” out there. The last time Clemson was favored to win the ACC it went 4-4 in league play and tied for sixth place in the conference.

However, the Tigers have won the ACC six other times when they were not predicted to win the league – more than any other league member – including last year’s team. I guess that does not really have anything to do with “Rat Poison” though

It’s actually the exact opposite. I’ll just stop here.