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Nobody Wants to Talk About Clemson as a National Title Threat and That's Wrong

By Sean Facey

Trevor Lawrence and the Clemson Tigers have fully recovered from their near-loss against UNC.
Trevor Lawrence and the Clemson Tigers have fully recovered from their near-loss against UNC. / Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

After barely surviving a surprising test against North Carolina, the Clemson Tigers were, for the most part, written off as pretenders by critics around the college football world. It wasn't even a loss, yet it's been treated like one in the weeks that followed.

Since that scare, though, the defending national champs have been nothing short of dominant. They've looked every bit like the team that won all the marbles in the College Football Playoff a season ago. But despite their consistent winning and copious style points, few seem keen on considering them as real threats to win it all.

And that's outrageous.

Including their 38-3 drubbing of South Carolina Saturday, Dabo Swinney's Tigers have won each of their last seven games by 30 or more points all while holding opponents to 14 or fewer points.

It's absurd dominance the likes of which few other title contenders, if any, can boast.

Sure, their schedule may have been weaker than the teams ahead of them in the College Football Playoff rankings, but that doesn't mean they're not true contenders. What will it take for them to get the kind of buzz and recognition that gets so willingly thrown at Ohio State and LSU?

It's expected that teams with such high aspirations take care of business against lesser opponents, and the Tigers have done just that in extremely convincing fashion. They beat the teams they needed to be with awe-inspiring ease, but for that one hiccup against UNC.

Shouldn't their dominance at least command some respect? It's not every year that a team is able to string together six consecutive games with 45 or more points and cap it off with a 38-3 victory over their premier in-state rivals.

Dabo's squad deserves far more respect than it's getting. It seems as though the entire world has forgotten that they were undefeated champions less than a year ago.

One shaky win doesn't define their season. Fans had better not act surprised when they make some noise once again when the Playoff rolls around.