Tigers ranked No. 2 in the College Football Playoff era

Something I’ve discussed a lot this summer is how goodClemsonfootball program has been in the Dabo Swinney era.

Since Swinney took over in the 2008 season, the Tigers have enjoyed their best run in program history. With eight ACC championships, two College Football Playoff national championships and 15 first-round picks under Swinney, Clemson’s football program has developed into one of the premier programs in the nation.

Much of that success has come from the CFP era, where the Tigers have had incredible success with six out of nine playoff appearances.

How good has Clemson been in the ACP era? According to a Sporting News articleThe best programs of the YKP era, they have been the second best show. They made their rankings based on this point scale:

• National Championship:10 points
• CFP Championship Appearance:5 points
• Appearance of CFP:5 points
• New Year’s Day Sixth Appearance:2 points
• Profit percentagenage:(16-1 survey style)
• Consensus All-Americans:16-1 in survey style
• NFL Draft Picks:16-1 in survey style
• Heisman Trophy winners:1 point

Here’s what author Bill Bender had to say about the Tigers.

2. Clemson

Total points:120.5

Lowdown:Clemson’s place on this list is hard to argue with. The Tigers have multiple national championships and reached the CFP six times. That includes four CFP Championship games that resulted in a 2-2 record. Detractors might say it was built around the ACC schedule, but the Tigers have produced nine Consensus All-Americans and 49 NFL Draft picks. Dabo Swinney has built a program that has garnered so much success that the last two seasons, which produced a 21-6 record and an ACC championship, have been derided because the Tigers failed to make the CFP.

Hard to argue, really; Clemson has been a powerhouse in the ACP era. The only team ranked higher is Nick Saban and Alabama with a total score of 162.

The Tigers are ranked No. 1 by a strong margin, and Ohio State’s 108 points drops them to No. 3 in their rankings. Georgia (98.5) and Oklahoma (59.6) round out the rest of the top five.

Clemson has the potential to get closer to the Crimson Tide with a strong 2023 season.