Breaking down how Clemson could miss College Football Playoff in 2024

Clemson is not a shoe-in for the 12-team College Football Playoff in 2024, according to On3’s Andy Staples and Jesse Simonton.

However, the team might not have a sustainable roster, so say the pair of analysts. Sure, the team is good and could win the ACC under Dabo Swinney.

But it might be more likely the team has a few misses on the schedule. Tuesday’s edition of Andy Staples On3 described a wakeup call for those at Clemson.

“NC State, Florida State, Louisville, at Virginia Tech is gonna be a tricky one Clemson,” Staples said. “Virginia Tech’s gonna be sneaky good this year. And they also play Georgia. I just identified five potential losses on this schedule. Like, I don’t think they’re gonna lose five games, but 9-3, 8-4 (is) perfectly plausible. And guess what, if that happens, you’re not making the playoffs.”

Simonton was seemingly in agreement that this is a legitimate possibility.

“If that happens, I think, what was it last year that Dabo said? Buy stock? I think a lot of folks will be selling off whatever they have,” Simonton said.

It’s not that Clemson doesn’t have elite talent on the roster. It’s just not spread out enough to make this Tigers team a national title contender.

“Clemson has guys like Peter Woods defensive tackle, one of the best players in the country,” Staples said. “They’ve still got Sammy Brown, the linebacker that they signed out of Georgia. He’s gonna be awesome. They’ve got those guys sprinkled through the roster. They have elite talent, but they don’t have it everywhere. And that’s the problem because Georgia does because Ohio State does, and especially at the receiver position. Like since Tee Higgins left, they have not been dynamic there. They’ve not been able to develop the guys they’ve signed. And that’s like the one place in the portal where you consistently have been able to find some difference makers. 

“You can’t necessarily find a difference-making offensive tackle or an EDGE guy in the portal, Maybe somebody will … But you have been able to get impact receivers, and Clemson is just not there. They’ve said no, we’re going to develop our own but none of them have developed into what we’re used to. Back in the days of … Sammy Watkins, Tee Higgins, Mike Williams, Hunter Renfrow … I mean, that’s a very distinguished list.”

Simonton argued Swinney’s reluctance to use the transfer portal will finally hurt Clemson.

“Dabo can opine as much as he wants about how much he loves his guys and how much these are our guys we believe in our guys, but it’s just a dereliction of duty that he has not used the portal at all,” Simonton said. “I think too, oftentimes when Dabo enters this conversation because he’s so honestly transparent, which is great, about his views on the transfer portal.

“I think too many people swing way too hard one side or the other. No one is saying that Clemson needs to add what Ole Miss did or what Colorado did … If you just pluck and get four or five guys, three guys, whatever, that is how you build a sustainable roster.”