What is the Potential Ceiling and Worst Case Scenario for Tigers in 2024?

What can we expect to see from the Clemson Tigers during the 2024 college football season at their highs and lows?

Clemson wide receiver Troy Stellato (10) during Clemson football practice at Jervey Meadows in Clemson, S.C. Wednesday August 7, 2024. / Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK

The 2024 college football season is going to present a lot of obstacles for the Clemson Tigers. They have one of the most difficult schedules in the nation, as they kick their season off against the preseason No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs.

Clemson enters the season ranked as well, coming in at No. 14. That puts them right on the cusp of the College Football Playoff, as 12 teams will be participating this year.

The Tigers have their sights set on landing one of those spots. Should they be selected to partake in the playoff, they will have certainly earned it.

Georgia is one of four opponents that Clemson has who are in the top 25 preseason rankings. Four more of their opponents received top 25 votes, as they are going to be challenged throughout the campaign.

That is partly why David Hale of ESPN has such a wide-ranging ceiling and floor for the team heading into the season. In Hale’s opinion, the Tigers have a ceiling of going 11-1 in the regular season.

That would put them in line to play in the ACC Championship game with a chance to represent the conference in the College Football Playoff as an automatic qualifier. An at-large bid would still be attainable in this scenario as well, assuming it is one of the other ranked ACC teams they would be facing off against.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Hale has the Tigers’ floor as a 6-6 team. That would be enough to garner an invite to a bowl game but would be a massive disappointment given the standard Dabo Swinney has created.

Key games litter Clemson’s schedule this season. None may garner more attention than the season opener against the Bulldogs, but Hale believes that won’t provide much of a barometer for the team’s rest-of-season outlook.

“We're tempted to say the Georgia game will be the telltale matchup of the season for Clemson, but that's like judging Clemson's chances to win a game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos against an actual hippopotamus. It'll be interesting, but it probably isn't relevant to what the rest of the season will look like,” Hale wrote.

Instead, he believes that a conference matchup with NC State on September 21st is a much bigger game in the grand scheme of things.

“The Week 3 matchup with the Wolfpack -- a team that has beaten Clemson two of the past three years and is far more talented in 2024 than in either of those previous seasons -- will be a far better indication of the Tigers' ACC title hopes and something of a preview of how well Dabo Swinney's crew will hold up two weeks later against Florida State,” wrote Hale.

To have any hopes of earning an at-large bid, the Tigers have to defeat the Wolfpack or Florida State. Winning in Tallahassee is a big ask, putting even more of an emphasis on the matchup against NC State, at home, two weeks prior.