Will Clemson’s snub by the College Football Playoff committee lead them to bolt the ACC for the SEC? Committee said that a weak ACC schedule led to their being ranked fifth

 … ACC lied about how great the conference would be

When the Atlantic Coast Conference set out to destroy the Big East Conference in the early 20-teens, they lured away schools like Syracuse and Pitt by saying that the ACC football program would be superb when they joined and left the Big Easta.

They cited programs like Florida State, Miami, and Virginia Tech that had won national titles in the past as being the bedrock of that new fabulous conference that would compete with the Southeastern Conference [SEC].

The truth is that the ACC just wanted to eliminate the Big East for basketball because it was the dominant conference in men’s basketball in the early 2000s. Since 2003, the ACC and Big East — which was decimated by defections in 2011 — have won an equal number of national basketball titles.

Football is the Big One

In football, the ACC is currently a joke — except for a fabulous Clemson program that has won two national titles in the past three seasons. In fact, Clemson has not lost a football game since Jan. 1, 2018, and they annihilated Alabama in last year’s NCAA championship.

However, followers of Clemson and ACC football have written headlines like these over the past two years:

Shawn Spencer: “Clemson Football: Can the Tigers just leave the ACC already?”

Gene Sapakoff: “How to help pathetic ACC football keep up with elite Clemson.”

Spencer wrote this about the woes of Clemson in the ACC,

Is it time for the Clemson football program to make its way out of the ACC? It certainly would be nice from the Tigers’ perspective.

The ACC is beginning to make a bid for being the worst Power-Five conference in America, and it might already be there.

The Clemson football team has been carrying the banner for the conference for the last four years and over that time, the conference has gotten progressively worse. Just a few years ago, the ACC was on the verge of becoming one of the best conferences in the nation, even if national analysts wouldn’t recognize it.

With a top-10 Florida State team, a top-15 Louisville team, as well as programs like NC State, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Miami who were all decent, the ACC seemed like it was trending upwards.

But it went down in a hurry.

While Clemson went on to win the conference the last four years, make four-straight CFB Playoff appearances and win two National Titles, the rest of the ACC has been nothing short of embarrassing.

CFP ranked them fifth because of weak ACC schedule

Many Tigers fans were outraged when undefeated Clemson was ranked fifth in the CFP rankings that came out this week. The reality is that the Tigers will no doubt make the top four — if they remain undefeated. If they lose one game, they will be out of the run.

The reason for that is that because of the top four: 1. Ohio State; 2. LSU; 3. Alabama; 4. Penn State, LSU plays Alabama this week and Ohio State and Penn State play in late November. Penn State also has to face undefeated Minnesota today.

Clemson has played just one ACC team that is ranked in the Top 25, and in the Sagarin power rankings, Clemson, rated third, has played no ACC team in the top 25, because none are there. Virginia is the highest, 33rd.

That is a woeful conference, and Sagarin ranks the ACC-Atlantic in which Clemson plays as the ninth-best conference in the country, with the ACC-Coastal tenth.

And the Big 12 and Pac 12 are not exactly that strong either, but the Big 12 is third overall and Pac-12 divisions are fourth and seventh.

CFP explanation of the rankings

In justifying the selection of Penn State as fourth over Clemson as fifth, Rob Mullens, the athletic director at Oregon, said this,

Rob Mullens, selection committee chairman, said during a press teleconference that Penn State’s strength of schedule, which included wins against Michigan and Iowa, was the difference in putting the Nittany Lions in the top four ahead of Clemson.

“We had a lengthy discussion about Penn State and Clemson, two really, really good teams, both strong defensively,” Mullens said. “In the end, what it came down to — and again, much debate — Penn State has marquee wins against 14th-ranked Michigan and a road win at 18th-ranked Iowa. In addition, they have a non-conference win over Pitt (ranked 44th by Sagarin], which is a pretty good win at this point.”

Jeremy Styron, “CFP Chair Rob Mullens Explains What Dropped 

Clemson to No. 5,” Sports Illustrated, Nov. 6, 2019

The unfortunate part of Mullens’ statement is that he is actually encouraging teams to run the score, and Ohio State's 42-0 halftime lead today is an example of that,

Mullens said the Tigers’ 21-20 win against North Carolina played a part in Clemson’s No. 5 playoff ranking this week.

“The close win over North Carolina is a factor because we're looking at the entire resume, and what we see with Clemson is an impressive team, an offense that's improved in the last few weeks, outstanding quarterback, outstanding running back,” Mullens said.

Mullens said Alabama was ranked No. 3 in the ranking because of the Crimson’s Tide's “overall performances and quality play on both sides of the ball.”

Styron, Sports Illustrated, Nov. 6, 2019

In the end, a win’s a win, and the one-point win does not really change the equation.

Sagarin has Ohio State’s schedule ranked 20th, Alabama’s 59th, and Clemson’s 64th. Penn State’s is 29th, which ultimately became the deal-breaker — though in the end, this is all irrelevant.

Ironically, Northwestern of the Big Ten plays the toughest schedule in the country.

And ironically, the Atlantic Athletic Conference-West [Memphis, Houston, Tulane, SMU, Navy, Tulsa] is ranked higher than the ACC by Sagarin.

Clemson has consistenly denied interest in SEC

While the SEC fans have constantly said that Clemson will ultimately end up in paradise, aka the SEC, Clemson has always denied interest in doing so.

However, that was before the Tigers became such a power in NCAA football.

Will that change? Who knows?

The difference is money. The one element that keeps Penn State from exploring a chance to move to the ACC, which would probably be a better fit than the Big Ten since they have no true rival, is the money that it receives from the Big Ten Network.

The ACC has nothing to compare with the Big Ten — and the SEC is starting to improve in that area.

However, the truth is that the final again this year could be Clemson vs. Alabama — regardless of how the CFP ranking look at this stage. Most teams have at least four games left, along with a conference championship.

So, the Tigers, despite being maligned by many this year, could be carting home that trophy once again.