5 reasons that Clemson will be back in the playoffs

The Clemson Tigers are coming off the greatest football season in college football history, as they captured their second national title in the last three seasons and becoming the first major college program to finish their season with a 15-0 record.

The Clemson Tigers are coming off the greatest football season in college football history, as they captured their second national title in the last three seasons and becoming the first major college program to finish their season with a 15-0 record.

However, just as the quickly as the fanbase was celebrating the 2018 team’s accomplishments, they also began looking ahead to the 2019 season.

Which is exactly what we will do today, as we look at the five reasons that the Tigers will find themselves back in the College Football Playoff for a fifth straight season.

1: The schedule: The 2019 schedule was released and with it came the excitement of another trip to the CFP, as the Tigers will be favored by double-digits in every one of their games.

The biggest tests of the season are all at home, a week 2 contest against Texas A&M and an Oct. 12 meeting with Florida State. Also a bonus for the 2019 Tigers is the fact that for the second straight season, the Tigers avoid back-to-back road games and playing away from Death Valley on Thursday and Friday nights.

2: The return of the nearly the entire offense: Returning to the Tigers offense is nearly every piece of an offense that was as prolific as the Tigers have had in recent years.

Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the Heisman Trophy front-runner, returns to lead an offense that also boasts another Heisman hopeful in running back Travis Etienne; wide receivers Tee Higgins, Amari Rodgers, Justyn Ross, Derion Kendrick and true freshman, and five-star signees, Joe Ngata and Frank Ladson—will be a part of arguably the greatest receiving corps in school history.

3: The secondary will be better: While much of the focus this offseason has been spent on the losses on the defensive line, the Tigers secondary losses only one starter—Trayvon Mullen.

The Tigers will return three starters, including cornerback A.J. Terrell, safeties K’Von Wallace and Tanner Muse, while inserting redshirt freshman Kyler McMichael and Mario Goodrich into battle for the spot for vacated by Mullen.

Also battling for the vacated spot will be former four-star recruit LeAnthony Williams—making the secondary a major strength for the Tigers and no longer a weakness.

4: The Tigers are comfortable: The idea of being comfortable may be a negative thing, as many people think that word is synonymous with complacent.

But not for the Tigers.

The idea of being comfortable comes from the fact that they are used to being the hunted. They are used to getting every team’s best shot and coming through unscathed. There is something to the psychological advantage of stepping onto the football field and knowing that you are going to perform at a high level—and that is exactly what they have done.

5: Swinney will find a way: While the Tigers will be heavy favorites in every one of their games and will have the advantage of being comfortable with their position of being the hunted, they will have something that no one can put a price on—head coach Dabo Swinney.

Swinney is a master at finding the right button to push to make his team, as absurd as it may seem, the underdog.

Last season, the Tigers found themselves on the ROY bus, a phrase Swinney used extensively during the 2018 year to show that they were not on the same level as the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Even after beating the Crimson Tide by 28 points, 44-16, in the national championship game, Swinney was still adamant that the Tigers were behind the Tide.

Needless to say, the master of motivation, will find a way to make his Tigers feel like the underdogs in every game.