Clemson football: 3 biggest offseason questions facing Dabo Swinney’s Tigers in 2021
By John Buhler
The Clemson football team faces some tough questions heading into the 2021 offseason.
Dabo Swinney‘s Clemson football team is the best in the ACC, but that does not mean they do not have questions to answer this offseason.
Clemson may have won its conference six years in a row, making the College Football Playoff every single time. However, the Tigers have not won a national championship in three seasons and have only won one in the last four. That would be a remarkable benchmark for most programs, but Clemson is not most programs. If they want to remain a dynasty, they need to win it all in 2021.
Overall, Clemson will again be one of the four best teams in the land, as the Tigers have not been challenged by anyone in the ACC for any extended stretch in the last half decade. At this juncture, it is all about winning national titles at Clemson. Anything short of that standard will be viewed as disappointment. Naturally, the Tigers have some questions to answer this offseason.
3 biggest offseason questions for the Clemson Tigers
3. Has Clemson been figured out in the College Football Playoff?
While it may be more of a playing in New Orleans issue than anything, Clemson has lost its last two playoff games, including three in a row in The Big Easy. Clemson lost to the LSU Tigers in the national championship game two years ago. The Tigers fell to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the 2021 Sugar Bowl in the College Football Playoff. They also lost to the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2019.
It may be coincidence, but do we really want to believe in coincidences these days? While there is no conspiracy theory surrounding Clemson’s continued issues at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, we do have to wonder if the Tigers have lost a bit of their luster in the College Football Playoff. They got spanked in their last two games vs. LSU and Ohio State. So what is up with that?
It could mean the days of the two concurrent dynasties at Alabama and Clemson are over with. No longer is it a foregone conclusion that these two southeastern football powers will meet in the College Football Playoff National Championship game annually. Heck, it is no longer a guarantee that both teams will end up making the four-team field. They have made it in five times together.
Is Clemson poised to make it seven years in a row out of the ACC? I think the better question is do you believe they will be challenged by the Miami Hurricanes or the North Carolina Tar Heels to the degree they were by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in 2020? But even if Clemson gets to have its annual playoff pizza party, there is a chance the other blue-bloods may have figured them out.