Clemson, Miami have wildly opposite issues heading into 2024

With the 2023 football season in the books it’s time to take a look ahead to 2024, and On3’s Jesse Simonton has provided a “Way-Too-Early” Top 25 to kick off the discussion.

The list is loaded with Big Ten and SEC teams at the top, with the ACC mostly relegated to the teens and beyond after watching an unbeaten Florida State squad get left out of the College Football Playoff in 2023.

So what can the league expect next fall?

“You had the ACC, so you’ve got Florida State 17, Clemson 18, Louisville 19 and Miami at 21,” On3’s Andy Staples said, speaking with Simonton on the Andy Staples On3 show. “Miami’s the one for me that I feel like if they ever put it all together, this could be a league they can take over. Clemson, their refusal to work in the portal, I feel like it’s still going down.”

Miami has done a nice job collecting talent via the recruiting trail, with the team’s current 2024 class sitting at No. 6 nationally and mostly signed to national letters of intent already.

The Hurricanes haven’t been quite as active in the NCAA transfer portal as they have been in the past, but they still have landed some quality additions, like Albany quarterback Reese Poffenbarger.

Clemson, on the other hand, has almost actively avoided the transfer portal, though coach Dabo Swinney seems more open to it now than he has been in the past.

Simonton summed up each team’s problems going into 2024 rather succinctly.

“So Clemson seems to have like a December through February problem right now,” Simonton said. “Miami seems to have a March through November problem. So it’s like which one works out? Cristobal’s got all the talent, but the development and the in-game coaching on those September Saturdays is just what’s plagued the program. Clemson, their roster is just not where it was when Dabo had these teams winning national championships.”

Whether either can iron out those issues to become a full-fledged problem in the league, like Florida State was in 2023, remains to be seen.

Cristobal has had some hard-to-swallow gaffes in coaching in recent memory. Swinney’s staunch refusal to engage with the portal has left the Tigers short-handed.

Will either figure out a solution in 2024? The answer to that question could well determine who vies most seriously for the ACC crown next fall.