With their win over NC State, defending national champion Clemson looks ready to defends its national title soon.
No matter what the rankings say, the fact is the Clemson Tigers are still the national champions of college football unless someone else is crowned the new king come January after the playoff takes place. At No. 4 in the country in the initial College Football Playoff rankings that were released this past week, the committee was telling the champs that, despite their hiccup at Syracuse a few weeks ago, they were putting them in position to defend their title.
Saturday in Raleigh, the champs would have the chance to show the world they’re not ready to give up their national title that easily, facing a stern test in a team that’s maybe the second-best in the ACC, the NC State Wolfpack.
Well, that test — it was passed.
It wasn’t simple by any means, but quarterback Kelly Bryant and Clemson were able to come away with the thrilling win over this talented NC State team, 38-31. Bryant looks back to his old self after suffering an injury in that Syracuse loss, throwing for 191 yards and adding in 88 on the ground in the victory. The defense, one of the best in the country at 7th in total defense, did give up 31 points and 491 yards, but this NC State offense has shown quite a few times this season how well they can put the ball in the end zone.
Now, after passing this test on Saturday, head coach Dabo Swinney and the Tigers appear to have a pretty smooth path ahead the rest of the way, where they can get back to the College Football Playoff for the third straight season to defend their championship. Next week, they take on Florida State, which won’t be nearly the usual spectacle we thought it’d be before the season, with Florida State going into the tank. They follow that up with a breather against the Citadel, then close up the year against rival South Carolina, another winnable game. And as for either Miami or Virginia Tech in the ACC title game — well, quite frankly, neither really appear to be on the level of Clemson.
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Clemson showed they’re the best team in the ACC with their takedown of NC State on Saturday, and soon, they’ll get the chance again to prove they’re the best team in the country by defending their national championship in the College Football Playoff.