Clemson Can't Afford to Overlook Hurricanes

In 1988, Clemson finished the season ranked in the AP Top 25 right about where it is right now in the College Football Playoff rankings.

And while these Tigers are getting dinged in the eyes of analysts (and committee members) for not playing what some would call a difficult scheduled, that wouldn't have been the case 34 years ago.

That season, here is how the top 3 played out in the polls:

1. Notre Dame

2. Miami

3. Florida State

Clemson played all three of those schools in 2022. None of them are currently ranked in the top 10. Notre Dame and FSU are in the top 20 with three losses. Miami is an afterthought at 5-5.

Things are what they used to be.

But there's a lot more hope for a return to yesteryear among the Irish and Seminole faithful. Notre Dame has made two appearances in the CFP, and the program is hoping first-year head coach Marcus Freeman can get them back to that and beyond.

They got off to a bit of a rough start, but the 18th-ranked Irish trounced Clemson 35-14 on Nov. 5 and have a chance to spoil No. 7 USC's playoff chances.

Meanwhile, FSU's got something going down in Tallahassee, relatively speaking. The No. 19 Seminoles are 7-3 and going to a bowl game for the first time since 2019. They've turned a bit of a corner under head coach Mike Norvell. The players on the line of scrimmage are huge upgrades from previous seasons, and there are certainly more playmakers.

The future is brighter than it was a year ago.

And then there's Miami. The Hurricanes come to Memorial Stadium on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. trying to figure out who they are under Mario Cristobal, who was quite blunt this week in response to disgruntled parents of current players.

"A parent is free and welcome to pick up their son if they’re not happy with their playing time," Cristobal said.

Things aren't great in Coral Gables, Fla. The first year of his time at Miami is not going well. The offense has been bad, ranking 84th nationally in scoring. The defense has been good, at times, and they have just three fewer tackles for a loss than Clemson. But consistency has plagued this unit.

These are big reasons the Tigers are a 19-point favorite over the Hurricanes.

There was once a time when it was a really big deal to play Miami. This proud program has five national championships. Four of those came between 1983 and 1991. There was another in 2001 when the Hurricanes fielded one of the most NFL-laden teams in football history.

In 2004, Miami became a full member of the ACC, and Clemson played them in back-to-back seasons. It was a big deal.

It was also huge in 2015 when the Tigers went to South Florida and handed Miami one of the worst losses in school history, a 58-0 defeat.

The two teams on opposite sides of the ACC met in the 2017 ACC Championship Game, another trump card for Clemson, which won 38-3. In the COVID-19 year of 2020, Miami made a trip to Memorial Stadium with dynamic QB D'Eriq King and left with another dominated defeated, 42-17.

Will this year continue that trend for the Tigers? That might depend on just how much Clemson gets up for this game. Yes, that's right. We live in an era when a college football team has to make sure it doesn't completely overlook the Hurricanes.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney never takes an opponent lightly, and he remembers Miami of the past. They met when he was a player at Alabama.

"We'll need a great crowd again," Swinney said. "I thought our crowd was a big difference for us last weekend. For us, we need to play our best game. We want momentum and a great fourth quarter to our year."

There isn't a ton of the line for Clemson other than staying in the College Football Playoff hunt, even though they might not control their own destiny, as the ACC Atlantic is already wrapped up.

That's one of the reasons Swinney emplored the fans to show up and show out. Miami isn't what it used to be, but Clemson isn't in a situation where it can pretend that's the case.

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