Projections vary over where Clemson will start 2023 season ranked |
We're a little over two months until the first Associated Press Top 25, but that doesn't stop some projections on where the teams might fall preseason.
Venerated college football guru Phil Steele has had a pretty good handle of how the AP rankings will shake out, and he sees Clemson starting the year at No. 8 overall. Steele's full projected Top 10 is Georgia then Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, LSU, Florida State, Clemson, Southern Cal and Notre Dame. Steele says he's been a perfect 10-for-10 predicting eight of the last 14 preseason polls, and he had Clemson correctly pegged at No. 4 overall in last year's edition. CollegeFootballNews did a projection this week and they see Clemson out of the Top 10 for the first time preseason since 2015. Dabo Swinney's Tigers are No. 11 in the projection after finishing 13th last year. That AP Top 10 call is Georgia then Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State, Southern Cal, LSU, Florida State, Penn State, Tennessee and Notre Dame. Clemson has not ranked lower than fifth preseason in the AP poll from 2016-on. In that run, Clemson outperformed its preseason ranking from 2016-18 in the final poll, while averaging a spot 10 places below in the last two seasons. Clemson plays consensus projected-Top 10 Florida State at home on Sept. 23 and Notre Dame also at home on Nov. 4. The first AP Poll was published in 1936. Clemson saw its first AP ranking in week five of the 1939 edition of the poll (No. 16), finishing No. 12 that season. The AP started doing a preseason poll in 1950, where Clemson was ranked for the first time in 1958 (18).
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