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Replies: 18
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Valley Legend [12775]
TigerPulse: 89%
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Joined: 2004
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WHY did so many expect Clemson to be national title contenders this year?
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Sep 15, 2025, 10:41 AM
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sure.....they returned a lot of offensive and defensive players, but what have they done or shown against non-garbage teams to lead to to believe they were national title caliber? especially knowing what "national title caliber" really LOOKS LIKE
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CU Guru [1555]
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Everything was based on a "quality" loss to Texas...***
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Sep 15, 2025, 10:43 AM
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Game Changer [1793]
TigerPulse: 79%
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Re: Everything was based on a "quality" loss to Texas...***
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Sep 15, 2025, 10:48 AM
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There was nothing quality about it. Texas ran through us like we weren’t even there. They had a huge lead and let us back in the game and the moment it became a one score game they hit us with a 75 yard touchdown run like we weren’t even there again because they decided to play football
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CU Guru [1555]
TigerPulse: 100%
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You're right but
Sep 15, 2025, 11:03 AM
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the media and the supposed experts that we held our own against Texas to finally turn the corner and had all this returning talent.
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Game Changer [1793]
TigerPulse: 79%
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Re: You're right but
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Sep 15, 2025, 1:43 PM
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Correct
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Valley Legend [12446]
TigerPulse: 75%
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Re: WHY did so many expect Clemson to be national title contenders this year?
Sep 15, 2025, 10:44 AM
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Clemson still is a national title contender.
The season is longer than 3 games.
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Top TigerNet [28419]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: WHY did so many expect Clemson to be national title contenders this year?
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Sep 15, 2025, 4:20 PM
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A National Title contender that has fallen completely out of the rankings with 25% of the regular season already over.
Think again...
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Game Changer [1793]
TigerPulse: 79%
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Re: WHY did so many expect Clemson to be national title contenders this year?
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Sep 15, 2025, 10:47 AM
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That is the biggest thing was we looked so bad last year in the last half of the season and every single game.
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Game Changer [1793]
TigerPulse: 79%
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Re: WHY did so many expect Clemson to be national title contenders this year?
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Sep 15, 2025, 10:50 AM
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In many other situations there would be reason to think we would be better but I just knew we wouldn’t because of Dabo Swinney but here are the reasons people thought we would be good
1. Matt Luke and a real online for once
2. Tom Allen
3. Receivers and Tyler brown back
4. Gideon Davison
5. Dline with woods back inside
6. Sammy brown
7. Corners
That’s enough to think a team would be better but I knew it wouldn’t be because of the leader at the top
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Ultimate Tiger [35179]
TigerPulse: 100%
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The cool aid***
Sep 15, 2025, 10:58 AM
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Orange Blooded [2356]
TigerPulse: 100%
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While not expecting national title contender, I was expecting
Sep 15, 2025, 11:03 AM
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better for a couple of reasons. Pretty much a veteran offense returning across the board, and with the improvement we saw last year on the oline in Luke's first year, I expected big things from that group . I'll say the defense is about what I expected under Allen. Not world beaters but still better than last year and no where near the reason we've lost two. If the offense lived up to their billing, then we're 3-0.
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CU Medallion [19060]
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Re: WHY did so many expect Clemson to be national title contenders this year?
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Sep 15, 2025, 11:03 AM
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Dabo told us the tigers would be the first team to go 16-0.
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CU Medallion [19060]
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Re: WHY did so many expect Clemson to be national title contenders this year?
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Sep 15, 2025, 11:04 AM
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He just didn't say which Tigers.
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Valley Protector [1481]
TigerPulse: 97%
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Re: WHY did so many expect Clemson to be national title contenders this year?
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Sep 15, 2025, 2:12 PM
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I sure didn't buy into it. Anyone with eyes shouldn't have
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Top TigerNet [28419]
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Re: WHY did so many expect Clemson to be national title contenders this year?
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Sep 15, 2025, 2:20 PM
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The hype was CRAZY:
Highest returning productivity in the country.
QB was the leading Heisman candidate and projected as the first QB in the draft, and pre-season ACC Player of the Year.
Played more Freshmen in 2024 than any other program in the country, creating a lot of depth.
Multiple All-ACC selections and pre-season All Americans.
Many projected Clemson to win it all and preseason #1 from several analysts.
At one point, 4 of the first 13 picks in the next draft were Clemson players.
I think a lot was made of the eye test without really doing a complete physical...
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110%er [4012]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: WHY did so many expect Clemson to be national title contenders this year?
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Sep 15, 2025, 3:08 PM
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Because CDS said to buy all the Clemson stock you can ….He set the expectations
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Head Coach [983]
TigerPulse: 90%
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Re: WHY did so many expect Clemson to be national title contenders this year?
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Sep 15, 2025, 3:21 PM
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The idea was Clemson showed flashes of being a solid team, Cade had 42 TDs and a boatload of passing yards, 2 true freshman wide outs that showed big flashes last year set to step up even more and a major coaching upgrade on the defense. Also Will heldt coming in to help a solid D line and Alexander to help on the linebacking side. Smith would be a nice compliment to the offense to be a guy who could go up and get it in the redzone.
The idea that was we would look improved from last season which was a 10 win season.
What we didn't know is our QB would totally crumble with yips the moment antonio williams went out and our OC wouldn't adjust or look so poor, not to mention our highly touted D lineman would take plays off like Clowney did back in the day without the talent to back it up. I was in the camp that peter woods would be our best interior D lineman in years and TJ parker would feast now that Heldt was on the other end.
I don't think defense is the issue of this team but they aren't playing at a title level where we can get away with having a bad to average offense.
Offense I've got no clue. Is it the "Clemson" offense or has Dabo given all control to riley?
Other guys get paid at other schools, why do we seem to have a country club atmosphere?
Win against Cuse and come out the other side of the bye week looking like a totally different team and theres still wins to be had. Playoffs shouldn't be in anyones mind, our national championship will be in columbia this year and we better win that one. We've looked bad but south carolina looks worse so it's time to remind those folks who still runs the state.
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Clemson Sports Icon [54053]
TigerPulse: 79%
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Joined: 2003
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They didnt actually watch us play last year.
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Sep 15, 2025, 4:16 PM
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They looked at our record, recruiting, and who we had coming back. They put too much value on experience.
They assumed that upgrading some coaching positions would make a big difference.
They also assumed that we are still a developmental program.
They also thought that Dabo is still an elite coach.
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Top TigerNet [28419]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Joined: 2018
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Re: WHY did so many expect Clemson to be national title contenders this year?
Sep 15, 2025, 4:30 PM
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Heck, even clown ears got fooled into saying we were back. That's how OFF it really was...
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