ACC preview: It’s 4-time champion Clemson and everyone else
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Reigning national champion Clemson has taken any drama out of the Atlantic Coast Conference race. At least on paper. Dabo Swinney’s program has risen to the top of college football, not just the ACC, during a multi-year tear. The Tigers enter the 2019 season with four straight ACC championships, the kind of domination last seen when Bobby Bowden’s Florida State teams romped through the 1990s with at least a share of nine straight titles.
They’re an overwhelming favorite yet again as they contend for a third national title in four seasons.
“Truly, we don’t carry everything over,” Swinney said, adding: “It’s always about what’s next. You’ve got to show up every year with something to prove.”
That mission now is becoming the first power conference team to win five straight league championship games. The strength will be on an offense led by quarterback Trevor Lawrence — the preseason ACC player of
the year and one of 13 Tigers players making up nearly half of the 27-player preseason allconference team.
With Clemson taking its place alongside Alabama as college football’s unquestioned top programs, the Tigers had only one close call last year: a 27-23 home win against Syracuse after Lawrence was knocked from the game days after former starter Kelly Bryant decided to transfer. The Tigers won their other seven ACC regular-season games by an average margin of 40.1 points, beat Pittsburgh 42-10 in the league title game then blew out Notre Dame and Alabama to become college football’s first 15-0 team since the 1800s.
The strongest challenge could come from Syracuse within the Atlantic Division. The Orange won 10 games in Year 3 under Dino Babers and offer an immediate challenge by hosting the Tigers on Sept. 14. Syracuse is the last ACC team to beat Clemson, that one coming two years ago in the Carrier Dome.
On the other side, the Coastal Division continues to offer a bewildering amount of turnover at the top with a different team winning the title for the past six seasons.