COLUMN: Is Clemson Good Enough to Win Another National Championship?

One thing is certain. Clemson can win a national championship in football.

We have seen it happen three times in the last 43 years. The Tigers stunned all of America when Danny Ford’s 1981 Clemson Tigers beat Nebraska in the 1982 Orange Bowl to win the program’s first national championship.

We had to wait another 35 years before we saw the Tigers do it again, but Dabo Swinney’s 2016 Clemson Tigers shocked the world with their 35-31 come-from-behind win to beat Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide. It did not take Clemson too long to win its third national title, as Swinney’s 2018 Clemson Tigers became the first team in major college football history to go 15-0 in a season.

Those Tigers concluded that championship by beating Alabama like a drum, 44-16, in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

By the way, the 2015 and 2019 Clemson teams went 14-0 before losing to Alabama and LSU respectfully in those CFP National Championship Games. So, it has been established, Clemson can win and play for a national championship.

However, can the Tigers win the national championship in 2024? An even better question, can they contend for a national championship this coming season?

I am not sure about the first question. I personally do not think Clemson has the right pieces in the right places to win a national championship.

Can they contend for a national championship? The people at EA Sports think so.

The folks over at EA Sports released Thursday what they compute are the top offenses and defenses for their College Football 25 game.

In those rankings, EA Sports has Clemson’s defensive ranked No. 5 with an overall grade of 90, which really did not surprise anyone. However, they also ranked the Tigers’ offense, which ranked 98 ^th in yards per play last year, as the 10 ^th best offense, finishing with a grade of 87 overall.

Clemson is one of six teams—joining Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Alabama and Texas—ranked in the top 10 overall in offense and defense. That tells me EA Sports considers Clemson to be a national championship contender in 2024, which I can see.

Granted, the Tigers open the season against Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, but the rest of the schedule is favorable. Clemson does return a defense that can play with anyone in college football and the offense showed signs of life at the end of last year, they just have to be smart enough not to mess things up this season.

To contend for a national championship in 2024, all you have to do is make the CFP, which is a heck of a lot easier than the other six times Clemson made it. The CFP expanded its field from four teams to 12 this year coming year.

Clemson has a clear road to the CFP. If it wins the ACC, it is in. Pretty simple, right?

However, because the Tigers open the season against Georgia and are a two-touchdown underdog, they have very little room for error. Their Oct. 5 trip to Florida State will go a long way in deciding Clemson’s championship fate.

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