FOX's Klatt: "Clemson’s trajectory is headed down. Period." |
Clemson and Alabama sit at 1-1 to start a season for the first time in 20 years.
FOX lead college football analyst Joel Klatt says the two are not in the same place, however, with Clemson's defeat coming by three scores at Duke and the Crimson Tide's loss coming at home to now No. 4 Texas. “Alabama is not going anywhere. Period,” Klatt said this week. “Those of you that want to bury Alabama, let’s be very honest, if you look at a team like Clemson and the way that they struggled with Duke on the road and what they looked like and what Alabama looked like against an elite Texas team, then we need to be honest with ourselves to say like those are two different things. “Those teams five years ago, they were the preeminent programs in the country. We were constantly asking ourselves, ‘Are we ever going to have a national championship game that’s not Bama-Clemson?' 'Clemson-Bama fatigue,' this or that. These two programs are not on the same trajectory. Clemson’s trajectory is headed down. Period. Alabama may be flat, but they're not going anywhere.” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney went to the airwaves this week to dispute any idea that there's a downward trend in his program. "If I was somewhere else, my process would probably be different, but we have an established culture," Swinney said. "Listen, as a head coach, I’ve seen a lot of so-called hot coaches that are the greatest thing ever and hot teams that have a great moment or a great year, and a couple years later they’re long gone. You never hear from them again. We’ve just kept on keeping on around here. So, we know who we are. Again, are we perfect? No. Are we always right? No. Not even close, but I think we’ve demonstrated that we’ve got a clue. I love the people we have. "When we make a mistake, we try to correct it, but we’re ahead this decade of where we were last decade. We’re going to have another great year. Is this a national championship team? I have no idea. I have no idea. Who knows what’s going to happen? But I know this, we have a great group, and I know this, we’ve got a lot of great years – let’s just see how this decade ends. Don’t miss out on all the fun." Klatt opined that there was a personnel issue in the wake of Clemson's loss at Duke. "The fact remains, they have not been recruiting at the same level," Klatt said. "Alright, a lot of factors in that. Their personnel right now is not where it needs to be on the field. They have not acquired the talent nor developed the talent to play at the upper echelons of college football – because that’s the expectation, right? For Clemson, I think that it is, particularly if you have a track record of two national titles since 2015 and six-straight Playoffs from 2015 to 2020. That’s what we expect. “I think it's clear, painfully, that Clemson has both failed to adapt on and off the field. “These two programs are not on the same trajectory”@JoelKlatt breaks down why Alabama is NOT on the same path as Clemson ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/inySRYmcor Clemson and Alabama are both 1-1 through two weeks. It's the first time that's happened since… 2003.
Twenty years.
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