Another day, another prediction from a major outlet.
Today's is the CBS Sports ACC predictions. They did a variety of Overrated and Underrated teams, as well as their predictions of the ACC divisions.
One guy has us at 1st in the Coastal. We've got three 4th place picks, one 5th, and a 6th. (LOLUva has one 6th place and six 7th places)
http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/2016-acc-expert-picks-ove...
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Comments
I like this Tom Fornelli guy.
Interesting thought. My only issue is that I don't think our guys were recruited for a different system. Lefty's system was "multiple" and I think that the current roster actually fits well with Fuente's system.
Well this just isn't true. Clemson went from one of it's worst offenses to it's statistically best ever at the time from 2010 to 2011.
I agree. I noted that 2nd sentence and will repeat it here:
The changes in the offense are a simplification of a somewhat similar offense, implemented with a faster tempo. That transition should be more straightforward than this statement makes it out to be.
I seem to remember Clemson having some pretty spectacular recruiting.
They had a highly rated recruiting class in 08(?) that turned out to be mostly full of busts. They landed a few five stars before the 2011 season but it's not a night and day difference from where they were at during a 6-7 statistically awful 2010 and where we are at right now. Their recruiting really picked up over the last 5-6 years and that's why their rise has been sustained.
I know for a fact the overwhelming majority of people around Clemson weren't expecting the success they had in 2011, especially not on offense, and especially not right away.
And I think that lends to the fact that Clemson might have been a bit of an exception to the norm.
It's certainly not the norm, but it's certainly possible. They made a substantial turnaround with only a fraction of the offense installed. Just saying that a good offense can be successful, quickly. It's not like we are going from a 3 yards and a cloud of dust B1G roster to a spread overnight. We have guys in place who can fit this scheme beautifully. There will be growing pains, but I think a regression in the offense is not to be expected just because it's new.
I think thats why the hiring of Hilgart has been an under the radar hire. Almost every player interviewed said they were in the best shape of their life. I think that will help for the transition to uptempo spread.
One of the best hires we made. Our S&C was stale and flat and not pushing the team for the past couple of years IMO.
Don't know how much of that was on the S&C staff versus the coaches being willing to hold players accountable for not putting in the time. Think it was a combination. When you have a guy like deon clarke out there starting for a major P5 program and he can only put up 275 on the bench, w/o having major shoulder issues, something is wrong.
Its funny because I have always thought we have always recruited for the spread hurry up offense without even knowing it.
The only thing stopping the roster as made right now is forgetting the old system and getting on the same page with the new. We have the talent right now to be very good offensively. My only reservation about this season is if they just haven't had enough time and experience learning it, yet.
Our offensive talent is being way undersold by the analysts this summer. To put it into context, we averaged 31 points per game with Scott Loeffler at OC with pretty much this exact talent (pour one out for Ryan Malleck, ye will be missed).
I would be shocked if we aren't a TD better than last year, even with our current QB uncertainty.
That 31 point total is very misleading. We broke 30 points twice in regulation last year, in routes of Furman and Purdue, two of the weaker opponents we've faced in a while. Of the remaining 10 games, we only broke 25 twice, averaging 22.6 points in ACC play.
Our offense really wasn't that good at all last year in terms of putting up points, though it was better than the 19 point average we had in ACC play in 2014. But yeah, we don't have much anywhere to go but up.
Yeah, ppg during acc play is probably a better indicator of what the offense was like.
well, I think people are weighing loser Brewer pretty heavily as well
Dennis Dodd has three ferrets and hates dogs
He sleeps with his ferrets and knits little outfits for them.
I don't think he's so far off the mark (if I'm feeling cynical), I just have a hard time seeing us as overrated as no one seems to be rating us particularly highly.
Biggest thing I've noticed I think from when lefty was hired to when fuente and cornelson came in is how CJF/CBC feel about the offense going into the season. If I remember correctly, lefty wasn't feeling very optimistic after fall camp and had like half of his playbook installed or something like that. Right now, it seems like they already have the starters rolling and just getting depth at the skill positions. At least it feels like the offense is ready to roll....it's a weird optimism I've never had for our offense
I don't see how we could finish behind Duke, GT, or LOLuva. I think it's more likely we finish 3rd or 4th. But I don't think it's crazy to think we could win the division or place 2nd. At any rate, I'll be happy with just seeing progress on both sides of the ball this year.
GT could be sneaky good this year. They had an absurd run of injuries last year, and if all those players come back experienced, their triple option could be back to rolling like it was in 2014
FTFW
Auburn went from a Scot Loeffler offense to a National title game...so we got that going for us.
Yeah, but all they had to do was win the SEC. /s
Yeah, but all they had to do was pay Cam Newton enough.
Cam wasn't there in 2013, the year after Loeffler left.
Ka. Boom.
Too bad we don't have a highly rated JUCO quarterback coming in to run the offen-
Wait.
Edit: I was think of the pre-Loeffler title game, not the post-Loeffler title game. Point stands though.
Ka. Boom.
The sequel.
Exactly, it's like everyone forgets their game against F$U and crab leg lover.
Who? /s
That was a skrong performance
They had just gotten rid of Loeffler too! Coincidence? I THINK NOT! VT 14-0!!!!
That would suck. Run the table including the ACCCG and then get snubbed when it comes to playoff selection?
I guess we could just claim co-national champions then? Is that still an option?
FTFY
Going out on a limb there, buddy (buddies?)
Haha, this prediction is the quintessential media race to be the first one to say it... "I told you back in AUGUST Fla St. would beat Clemson!!!!"
I agree, it's really not much of a bold prediction. I think it's more of a, don't be surprised if it happens stance, since so many of the media has basically already crowned either AL or Clemson national champs...
Checking in from upstate SC, can confirm that Clemson is going to have the best offense in history, they will replace every lost defensive starter with someone much better and they will win every game by 60. If you disagree you are a hater, also Clemson is the best college football program in the country and it's not really close with Alabama as a distant second.
Did you guys know that Christian Wilkins is 300 lbs and going to play some defensive end? wow!
please god don't let them win the NC.
I would actually be quite ok with Clemson winning the NC if only because it'll allow them to shed the Clemsoning title and it would be good for the ACC
Yeah, going to have to disagree. Screw what's good for the ACC, Clemson fans are downright un-fucking-bearable right now. I want nothing more this year to see them fall flat on their faces, HARD, just to shut them up.
This guy, he gets it.
<-----This
I'd rather see Clemson win it than:
Anyone in the Big Ten
Anyone in the Pac12 except Stanford
Anyone in the Big12 except Oklahoma
Any G5 member
Anyone in the SEC
Anyone else in the ACC except VT
Notre Dame
So, at worst, Clemson is my 5th highest, and most likely, rooting interest for the NC at this point in the season.
Would you really cut off the ACC to spite Clemson fans?
Who gives a shit about the ACC. Clemson winning doesn't change the perception that it is top heavy and the bottom is atrocious (which it is) and their fans are aw-aw-aw-aw-aw-aw-aw-aw-aw-awful
S-E-C S-E-C S-E-C
Yeah but not really. The talent gap between Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida, Texas A&M is enormous compared to the ACC where FSU and Clemson are the only comparable recruiters. Additionally Miss St, SCar (outside of recent downturn), Mizzou, and Arkansas have been better and more talented than most ACC teams as well in recent years, SCar was very awful last year but recently had three straight 11 win seasons and won 5 straight over Clemson until 2014.
I get that it sucks to hear the SEC praised so much, but it really is very different. They have Vandy and Kentucky as bottom feeders but from there on the average talent steps up way beyond that of the ACC. SEC fans can be brutally annoying but it's pretty ludicrous to suggest the ACC is similar. Look at Alabama's schedule this year and then look at Clemson's and try to pretend that they are even close to similar.
The SOS is a function of SEC perception. All the schools are PERCEIVED to be better and therefore their SOS is better. That myth is debunked every bowl season where the SEC doesn't dominate everyone.
I think you need to watch: Talk to your kids about the SEC myth
Except it's not because they have measurably more talent and everyone just blocks out when they abuse teams from other conferences and scream selective stats when they have a bad bowl season. If you think playing NC state/BC/Pitt/Virginia/Syracuse/Duke is comparable to the talent of a Texas A&M or Georgia or Florida or Tennessee is comparable you're out of your damn mind.
http://mcubed.net/ncaaf/bowls/conf1.shtml
Hmm... you sure about that? They haven't had a losing bowl record since 2002. In that time the ACC had a losing record 8 times, BIG10 9 times, Big12 6 times and PAC12 twice.
In OOC since 2000 the SEC is 25-13 vs PAC12, 36-23 vs Big12, 38-25 vs Big10 and 79-53 vs ACC. You gotta have your head up your ass to not see they are top to bottom the best in college football.
I have to admit this skit is pretty funny. Not funny enough to forgive Iowa for trying to steal Enter Sandman, but funny nonetheless.
Enjoy.
I'm not saying that the ACC is comparable to the SEC
but the SEC is definitely top heavy (Bama is legitimately the best team in the country..no denying that..pretty much everyone and their brother will agree)
but there are also teams that are beatable and then the bottom feeders
Is the SEC better than the ACC top to bottom. From a purely talent perspective, yeah, probably. Overall, if the teams met on the field, I think it's much closer than the talent gap would suggest. Is Alabama the best team in the country? Yes, certainly. But if LSU, Florida, Auburn, Ole Miss, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas played UNC, Pitt, Louisville, VT, Miami, FSU, Clemson I bet the ACC wins half of those games. The SEC's pack might be half a step up from the ACC's pack. The ACC's floor is (thanks UVA) lower than the SEC's and the SEC's ceiling (Bama) transcends all of the rest of college football. The ACC's ceiling (Clemson, possibly FSU, UNC) is somewhere between the SEC's ceiling and the SEC's pack. If not for the hype train the SEC has been riding for the better part of the last decade (thanks mostly to Urban's Florida, Les's LSU, and Saban's Bama) the talent distribution might be more even across the conferences and the SEC wouldn't be regarded as the seriously dominant conference everyone seems to think they are.
It bugs me that every fan of every school in the SEC seems to think that just because they are in the SEC they are better than any team not in the SEC. That is a logical fallacy. Just because the SEC has been home to so many champions (Bama, mostly) in the last decade doesn't mean that Arkansas is a championship caliber team. But that is the line of thinking for every fan in that conference. Tennessee fans don't take VT seriously, not because we have been a 6-7 win team for the last 3 years but because they are in the SEC. If they didn't take us seriously because we have sucked for the last few years, fine. But it pisses me off that they are dismissing us (even though they only had 2 more wins than us last year) because they are favored to win the SEC East so any team not in the SEC is clearly beneath them.
Can we have Boston College play Kentucky in the Oh My God, Who The Hell Cares Bowl?
We can precede that with the But Why Bowl between Wake and Vandy and the It Burns Us Bowl between Sakerlina and Syracuse
I would love to see Clemson either lose to FSU, GT and USCe, or to us in the ACCCG, but I will always root for the ACC to get into and win the playoffs, as much for the money that gets VT as the respect for the conference. I want their fans to think they are all that when we finally get a chance to smack them down. If we play you, I want you to beat every non-common opponent. But thats just me.
I used to agree, but after seeing people shit all over the ACC the last few years despite FSU winning the National Championship, being in the playoffs 2 years ago, and then Clemson coming as close to the crystal ball as they did last year, I'm of the complete opposite opinion now.
It doesn't matter what the ACC does, we could roll off 4 straight National Championships, it doesn't fucking matter. The agenda will be that it just proves how top heavy the ACC is and how weak everyone else in the conference is that we're able to have teams do this well and they wouldn't have a prayer in a conference like the SEC where they routinely beat each other up and blah blah blah pfffffffffffffffffft.
it doesn't matter how we do. people will find an excuse to shit all over us, just as they'll find an excuse to prop the SEC up. We'll never get respect as a conference in football. it is just the way it is
My friends who root for Big10, Pac12, and Big12 all feel the same way about not getting respect. ESPN is not to likely to change their tune any time soon (at least not as long they have to justify paying them the most football $), but the only way to change it is to keep them from winning championships. I quit caring about what ESPN says some time ago. I just want ammo against my friends that talk crap, and a chance to beat teams that are respected. Would rather beat a down team whose fans expect to lose (excepting LOLUVA, whom I always want to beat), or beat a team whose fans have been talking trash because they think they are all that? Which loss hurts more form last year, OSU or ECU? Still just my opinion, so not better than yours, just different.
It does to our revenue generation and our bragging rights and...wait, is there something else? This anti-Clemson notion is...not making a whole lot of sense to me. In my experience, don't hate on your conference teams. Do I hate Pitt? Yeah. DO I LIVE A HUNDRED YARDS FROM PENN STATE'S CAMPUS?!? Also yeah. Who am I rooting for when they play against each other this year? Pitt. #goACC.
I have friends who went to Pitt. Syracuse. LOLUVA. UNC, Wake, Duke. I root for their teams when it isn't a conflict of interest for me (VT, ND, or a game that is in our best interest if they lose). A little class towards your conference foes goes a long way.
I don't care as much about respect because you can never expect anyone to give you respect for anything, even if you deserve it. I care more about winning and then telling people who don't have respect to go f@ck themselves. Hell, I'd root for Miami or UNC or EVEN PITT if it won us more money, prestige, opportunities to go to the ACCCG or playoff.
If the ACC won four NC's in a row, I think the narrative would change. But I care much less about the narrative than any solid quantitative gains the conference as a whole could make. A rising tide raises all boats.
Besides, the Big Ten and the SEC are going to have the television networks slobbering all over them no matter what happens. Why? It isn't because they win. It's because their fans drive revenue for television networks. We may never be able to match that, so if we can eke out a few NC's while we don't, then that's going to have to be good enough. I'd rather live in the world as it is instead of the world as I wish it to be.
If the knock on a conference is that it's top heavy, and then the top teams play well, you can't get mad that people haven't stopped calling it top heavy. If there were more legitimately strong teams you'd hear that tune changing, but right now there's Florida State & Clemson, then Louisville and maybe North Carolina, then a bunch of below average to barely above mediocre teams (yes, this is us), then maybe the lowest floor of any conference with Wake, BC, UVA, and Syracuse. Things are looking up for a lot of teams, and there's reason to be optimistic, but people slag the ACC for a reason, and it's because we're not very good.
Oh, but that's the beauty of the argument....
If we always place a team in the playoff, it means the conference is top heavy and any somewhat decent team is going to make it in because the rest of the conference is so weak.
If we have 4 or 5 great teams who beat each other up, leaving a bunch of 1 and 2 loss programs at the end of the year, we get left out of the playoff because that proves how weak the conference is as a whole that nobody could distance themselves.
If our middle tier teams were recruiting like SEC middle tier teams, then there would certainly be more parity and we would probably win more OOC games, but they aren't doing that.
It's honestly embarrassing how easy Clemson's path to the playoff is compared to any other team in contention. Unless they lay an egg against Louisville or the like, it's a one game season against an FSU team who will start a freshman QB and their previous starter Sean Maguire is the worst starter they've had in years. If you look at Bama, LSU, Ohio State, TCU, Oklahoma, or another contender's schedule it is much, much more daunting. It's not Clemson's fault, they didn't realize Auburn would be the one of most talented but completely average teams in the country, and they can't help make NC State, BC, Wake, Syracuse into better teams, but that's the reality of their situation, they play a bunch of joke games that are seriously so unlikely to produce a loss barring a USC/Stanford situation from like 2007 or whenever that happened.
Which leads to my next point, after an easy schedule, Clemson has to get up for two big games in the playoff, they are talented enough to do this and in a one-off situation anything can happen. When you have to play Ole Miss, Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Auburn, Miss St, TAMU, and Arkansas in the regular season you can't afford to have a bad week. You can't afford to play like Clemson did against Louisville, Syracuse, SCar, or NC State last year against the former schedule listed, because those teams have the talent and skill to take advantage of a good team having a bad game. Syracuse, NC State, SCar didn't.
That's why the SEC is a much, much more difficult conference to navigate.
The ACCs record against other conferences isn't good. It terrible. That's the bottom line. You can whine all you want about respect, but since 2000 the ACC doesn't have a winning record against any P5 conference.
Top it off with the fact that in our 4 ACC championship seasons, we lost OOC to USC, Auburn, Kansas, LSU, Boise St and Stanford. Our most notable OOC win in a championship year was who? Cincy? A 9-4 nebraska team? Thats why the ACC gets ripped on.
You want national respect, you beat teams from other conferences. We haven't
Clemson fans are some of the worst I've been around, and definitely tie for worst I've seen at Lane with Miami.
The Clemson cat lady parading down main St pre-game in 2011 was just the tip of the iceberg. Can't stand them.
Nah, Clemson gives me a bad taste in my mouth. I can never root for an ACC team that we don't currently hold the win over.
Side note, fuck Maryland forever.
IF (team/=VT) Then (I hope they dont win)
I don't like Dabo. I feel like he's going to try and sell me a used car that has transmission issues.
I think that Chip Patterson is way too optimistic about LOLuva's chances this season.
Bronco has proven success. I still think LOLUVA is still a total wildcard
Any poll where the only team UVA beats is GT isn't all bad in my book.
so...safe money=LOLUVa to bring up the rear and Louisville to be on the outside looking in for the Atlantic race.
my favorite comment
CBS writers start drinking real early.
They did the same thing in the big 12. Texas comes in as one of the most underrated and overrated teams
We all know this is par for the #GOACC course.
I don't usually don't pay too much attention to stuff like this. (I actually have a hard time paying attention to anything, but that's for a different post) However, that one guy crowning the Hokies with the "overrated" moniker really bugs me. Dude, are you for real? The Hokies in most places are picked to finish no better than third in the division, and they aren't getting so much as a sniff at any poll. I would love to know who these over-raters are. I'm thirsty and I need some kool-aid.
He must spend A LOT of time with Tom For-(the good guys)-nelli
The #19 preseason team in the nation is "underrated?" The 7-5 regular season Cardinals? The same UL that beat Wake 20-19? The same team that only had 3 wins by more than a score? I'll take overrated for $500 Alex.
I'll take overrated but still somehow beats Clemson on the road. (I don't think this will happen but I want it to)
CBS Sports thinks Stewart Mandel got it right.
I'm sorry, still not the Haitin' On thread? One if these days I'll get it.