Clemson Tigers Fall Out of Top 10 In Latest Rankings Despite Sitting Idle

The Clemson Tigers did not play a football game this week, but still managed to drop in the latest college football power rankings.

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The Clemson Tigers come out of their bye week with a 6-1 overall record on the season, a 5-0 record in conference play, and five games left to play before the postseason.

Under veteran head coach Dabo Swinney, the program has put the haunting memory of last year's rough start far behind them as they have returned to the dominant brand of football that helped lead this team to two National Championships during Swinney's tenure.

There was no game for the Tigers this week, a much-needed week of rest and recovery after a marathon to start the year, but despite being idle, and one of the most dominant teams in the nation on a weekly basis, Clemson has fallen in the latest college football power rankings, dropping out of the top 10.

Every week Chris Vannini of The Athletic shares his college football power rankings, and in the latest rendition, the Tigers have fallen to 12th after being ranked 10th in last week's.

Clemson was jumped in the rankings by the not-idle Indiana Hoosiers and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, two teams that won their contests this Saturday.

The Hoosiers are 8-0 on the year, and won a 31-17 contest at home to the 4-4 Washington Huskies who have struggled to find consistency now that they have joined the Big 10 and have lost their previous head coach Kalen DeBoer.

The Fighting Irish are 7-1 in the 2024 campaign and won a 51-14 blowout over the Navy Midshipmen, who were ranked and undefeated but are still a Group of Five school and a military service academy, a group of football programs that have not been legitimate contenders for the better part of the last 50 years.

While the argument can certainly be made that a school that is 8-0 deserves to be in the top 10, Notre Dame's one loss on the year is much worse than the Tigers'.

The Fighting Irish's loss came in week two to the Northern Illinois Huskies, a (now) 4-4 team from the MAC that Vannini has ranked 93rd in his own power rankings, whereas Clemson's loss came in week one to the Georgia Bulldogs, a 6-1 SEC program that Vannini has ranked second.

No power rankings are ever perfect, especially in college football where it is impossible for every team to play every other team during the season.

But Notre Dame's body of work does not compare to the Tigers' body of work this year, especially when you consider their losses.