College football 2019: Biggest trap game facing every Top 25 team

1. Clemson Tigers

Biggest Trap Game: at South Carolina (Nov. 30)

Welcome to Year 2 of the Trevor Lawrence show. Throughout much of the 2018 college football season, there was no one that thought the Clemson Tigers weren’t good. However, there were those that brought into question just how good they were given that they were running through a relatively soft ACC last season. They put those questions to rest, however, in the College Football Playoff as they outright destroyed both Notre Dame and Alabama to win the title.

The aforementioned sophomore quarterback is now ready for an encore performance and Lawrence looks the part of a superstar. He checks every box for an NFL quarterback already, even though he’s not going to be eligible until 2021. And to make matters worse for opposing defenses, he also has a litany of weapons around him that are high-end NFL prospects as well, namely running back Travis Etienne and wide receivers Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross.

There’s no question that Dabo Swinney must replace elite talent on defense as their vaunted line left for the NFL. However, with Brent Venables still guiding that unit and with playmakers like Isaiah Simmons and K’Von Wallace in the fold, that unit should again be formidable.

Clemson’s biggest trap game certainly isn’t traditional as it’s their season-ending rivalry matchup against South Carolina. Why it qualifies, though, is that Clemson should again run through the ACC in the regular season and could well already be thinking about the conference title and College Football Playoff once again. Due to that, if they don’t take a lesser South Carolina team seriously, it could be a way to spoil another perfect season.