NCAA Legend Drops Scathing Thoughts on Clemson Tigers

An NCAA football legend dropped some scathing thoughts about the Clemson Tigers.

Nov 2, 2024; Clemson, South Carolina, USA; Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney reacts after people in the stands threw water bottles on the field after a call in favor of the Louisville Cardinals Cardinals during the fourth quarter at Memorial Stadium. / Ken Ruinard-Imagn Images

Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers suffered through a brutal loss last week against the Louisville Cardinals. It was a loss that could have ended their dreams of making a run to the College Football Playoff.

After losing the first game of the season and coupling it with this loss, they have an uphill battle to get in. No one can say that they're eliminated just yet, but they certainly aren't a favorite at this point in time.

It's a loss that Clemson is being ripped into over and it has brought into question just how good they really are. Following their six-game winning streak over inferior teams, losing to Louisville showed some major issues.

Desmond Howard, a former college football legend and current ESPN analyst, spoke out with a scathing take about the Tigers.

He believes that Clemson has not had "style points" in their two losses so far this year.

“Style points have to play a role in this,” Howard said. “You look at the Louisville game, and they only had one touchdown through three quarters. They scored two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter to make it look like it was more competitive than it actually was. You look at the first game of the season — I know it’s Georgia — but people shouldn’t say, ‘Well, it was Georgia,’ I mean, because it was Clemson. So, Clemson’s supposed to be on the same level as a Georgia. They’re not supposed to get blown out of the waters 34-3. So, style points I think have to play their part in these games, too. We talked earlier about Ohio State losing one point on the road against Oregon. That’s style points.”

While it's a tough pill to swallow, Howard is not wrong.

Even though they've only lost two games, their two losses have been bad. They didn't show up to play and it showed.

Swinney and company have some looking in the mirror to do. There are still four games left in the season, with one coming against a ranked team. If they want to have any chance at making a run at the playoff, they will need to win those games and win them convincingly.

No one can take away the fact that the Tigers are 6-2, but their losses have been.

Hopefully, they are able to rebound strong this weekend against Virginia Tech.