English 
Clemson Is No Longer Elite: College Football Top 25 for Week 1
Photo courtesy of Clemson Athletics
Ten years ago, Clemson sat atop the college football pyramid, having claimed the National Championship after a thrilling, last-second win over Alabama. They repeated the feat in 2018, dominating one of the best teams in Alabama history behind future number one draft pick quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The Tigers proved those days are long gone Saturday night in Baton Rouge, bludgeoned by LSU 51-10 in Lane Kiffin’s coaching debut for LSU.
Dabo Swinney is known as the best coach in Clemson history and likely will go down as the school’s all-time winningest coach, but his days of ruling the ACC and college football are over, and he needs to look in the mirror to see why. As has happened with some of the greatest coaches in college history, such as Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno, as time moves on, the game is passing Coach Swinney by.
It was clear in the way Clemson gave up 644 yards to LSU, allowing them to run or pass at will while only gaining 145 themselves and making just eight first downs. People will talk about his reluctance to embrace the transfer portal and to pay recruits straight out of high school before they’ve proven themselves, as well as his hiring of former players as staff members, but the problem is bigger than that.
This staff cannot evaluate players properly and has a vastly higher opinion of their value than their actual worth. This flaw shows up when you look at the play of Clemson’s offensive and defensive lines. LSU simply pushed this team around at the line of scrimmage, and Clemson never had the will or the toughness to respond.
“We’re moving on” Coach Swinney said in his Tuesday press conference. “We get 11 more. We are going to count them up at the end, so everything is about right here, right now.” This type of attitude is fine when Georgia Southern is your next opponent, but it is crystal clear that Clemson can no longer compete on a national stage.
Swinney is a two-time National Championship winner who deserves to go out his own way, then have a statue built for him when he leaves Clemson, but the title days are long past. His pitch has always been to mothers, telling them their children will be treated like sons when they get to Clemson. Now all Mom wants to know is how big the check is.
Secret Clock Changes Western Michigan’s Fate
Can someone please explain to me why Western Michigan did not beat Michigan? If you missed it, the Broncos lead 12-7, and Michigan’s Hail Mary attempt failed. Wait though! Somehow, the replay booth decided there were tenths of a second left on the clock when the ball touched out of bounds, giving Michigan another play. Apparently, unbeknownst to the entire world, there is a different clock than the one that shows on television and in the stadium, and the booth used that clock to make this determination.
As a friend likes to say, “travishamockery!” There are no tenths of a second on the clock in football; 00:00 is just that. The NCAA is ending this discrepancy between clocks, and the stadium clock will be the one that counts ultimately. But c’mon man, Western Michigan needs to get out there and claim victory in all ways, on their website, in all official publications and everywhere else. Claim it like UCF claimed the National Championship in 2017!
Weekly College Team Rankings
For those new to the column, I rank the teams quite differently than the coaches and the Associated Press voters. Here is the difference: each of these experts covers a team or works for a team on Saturdays, so they are completely involved in what their team is doing and may or may not have watched many of the other teams. I spend from noon to at least midnight watching games on two televisions. I rank teams on two simple criteria: who they have beaten and who they have lost to.
The best example I can think of is Penn State last year. Voters had them in the top five as they beat up cupcakes to start the season. I did not, because the teams they beat were so terrible. As soon as they faced a good opponent, they lost and ended up finishing 7-6. Prove it on the field.
You’ll shake your head this week at some of the rankings because they do not conform with the hive mind collective. I am rewarding teams this week that beat a Power 4 opponent, especially on the road, over a normal powerhouse that opened with Sisters of the Poor College. I will never simply move a team up one slot because a team above them lost. Every week, their resumes will be reevaluated. Teams rise and fall in my rankings based on the two simple criteria: Who did they beat? Who did they lose to?
How does this play out? Next week, the number one team in the nation will be the winner of Ohio State at Texas; no one will have a better win.
TOP 25 FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING SEPTEMBER 8
- LSU (1-0) Total destruction of Clemson that may lead to Dabo’s downfall
- MIAMI (1-0) Completely dominated a Stanford team that won in week 0
- NOTRE DAME (1-0) Wisconsin may be down, but still a quality week 1 win
- VIRGINIA (1-0) Just waxed NC State in week 0 and look like an ACC contender
- OLE MISS (1-0) while a tight win, beating Louisville on a neutral field is very good
- SMU (1-0) needed late FG to win at FSU. Dominant but very (too) sloppy
- COLORADO (1-0) Impressed with going to Atlanta and beating Georgia Tech
- UCLA (1-0) Won at Cal who has a terrific QB
- HOUSTON (1-0) Oregon State is at least decent, and Houston handled them
- AUBURN (1-0) gutted out a win over Baylor
- CINCINNATI (1-0) Boston College win won’t look great at the end of the year, but OK this week
- TULSA (1-0) Throwing them a bone for beating Power 4 Oklahoma State
- U MASS (1-0) Went to Rutgers and won! They won’t be staying ranked long
- OREGON (1-0) Boise is a quality opponent, but boy did the Ducks look weak
- WASHINGTON (1-0) Struggled some in the Apple Cup
- OHIO STATE (1-0) Starting here are the teams I think are good but haven’t played anyone
- TEXAS (1-0) Looking forward to the Ohio State rematch this week
- INDIANA (1-0) New QB Josh Hoover looks just fine, threw 4 TDs
- OKLAHOMA (1-0) They go to Michigan this week
- ALABAMA (1-0) Another team with an impressive new QB
- GEORGIA (1-0) Lots of talent for Coach Kirby Smart
- TEXAS A&M (1-0) Marcel Reed looks to get the Aggies to the next level
- PITTSBURGH (1-0) 7 TDs for Soph. QB Mason Heintschel
- VIRGINIA TECH (1-0) James Franklin era off to a huge start
- MEMPHIS (2-0) giving them some credit for winning at UNLV in week 0
