College football 2018 preview: Predicting the first loss for every Top 25 team

Clemson should steamroll every team on their schedule this season and cruise into the ACC Championship game. I would have said the same thing last year but Syracuse, a team that finished 4-8, found a way to beat the defending National Champions in a crazy Friday night game. So Clemson may or may not actually go 12-0, but I don’t really feel like putting on a blindfold and throwing darts to decide who the 2018 version of Syracuse is.

The Tigers open with Furman then go on the road to face Texas A&M, which will be closer than the line indicates. I fully expect Dabo Swinney to embarrass Willie Taggart in Tallahassee when Clemson plays Florida State but think Boston College and Wake Forest could give will be more challenging than a lot of people may think. The Tigers play meaningful home games against NC State and Louisville then round out the season against in-state rival South Carolina. The Gamecocks haven’t beaten Clemson since 2013 and Will Muschamp looks like he could make it more of a rivalry in the near future, just not yet.

The biggest question Clemson has to answer is whether all-world true freshman Trevor Lawrence can take the starting quarterback job from Kelly Bryant who is 12-2 as a starter coming off a season leading Clemson to the playoff. Bryant is the safer option given his experience, mobility and familiarity with the offense. But Lawrence’s ceiling is miles above and the more rumblings that come from preseason camp, the more it sounds like it will be hard to keep the freshman off the field.