Clemson Football: 2017 season preview and predictions

Clemson, South Carolina is a fun place now, but on Saturdays in the fall, Dabo Swinney and Clemson football will be wearing the biggest target of them all.

The Clemson Tigers return back to the ACC, where they have won 35 out of a possible 40 conferences games. In that time they have won the Atlantic division three times and the conference each of the last two years. Since Dabo Swinney’s first full season as head coach, he has never had a losing conference record. His worst since was a 4-4 season in 2010, his season year as head coach.

The Tigers are feared outside of the conference too. In the last five season, the Tigers are 23-4 in games outside of the ACC. Out of the those 27 games, seven were in the top ten with a record of 5-2. In that same time span, Alabama has a 24-3 out of conference record. Six of those games were top ten and their record in those matchups were 4-2.

The 2017 Clemson Tigers will be expected to win the ACC and be in the National Championship picture. While winning the ACC should always be the goal in Clemson, the National Championship might be a stretch for this team. Disregarding talent, there just aren’t many repeat champions in modern college football history. This team has great talent and great coaching but will it have the luck? We’ll see in a few months.