After squeaking by the un-ranked BC Eagles, the Tigers remain above Alabama in the NCAAF rankings.
After a narrow, come from behind victory over the un-ranked Boston College Eagles, the Clemson Tigers somehow remain the number one team in the nation.
The Alabama Crimson Tide have absolutely rolled over every team they have faced this season. They've played two ranked teams, Georgia and Texas A&M, and cleanly beat both of them. They are coming off of a dominant 41-0 victory over Mississippi State. How is this team not ranked first?
Clemson on the other hand has played one ranked team in Miami. They did beat them pretty easily, but they have also had the closest game of either of the top two teams, and that was last weeks matchup versus BC. They also, year in and year out, have a weaker schedule because they play in the ACC.
Clemson has a few blowout wins, but they really shouldn't mean much when they are against dismal teams like Citadel and Georgia Tech. The fact is, they have been benefiting from their conference for a few years now, and it is really getting tiring.
I'm not a Alabama fan or anything, but I can see how facing Georgia, LSU, and Auburn among others every year is no easy task. Were it not for Notre Dame moving into the ACC for the year, Clemson's only ranked matchup would have been against Miami. How can you sufficiently judge a team when they are playing such inferior competition?
Now I get that Trevor Lawrence missed this last game, but it is what it is. Clemson snuck by an un-ranked team. That merits a drop from the number one spot in my book.
In the end, Clemson finished the week with 33 first place votes, and Alabama had 29. Clemson finished with 1515 points, and Alabama with 1513. The bottom line is that Clemson's matchup with fourth ranked Notre Dame next week will be very telling. If they win that, especially without Lawrence, then I will gladly eat my words and put them number one in my rankings. If not, then dump them down.