2020 Clemson Football Season Preview: Safeties, Clemson vs. Georgia Tech: Tigers Destroy the Yellow Jackets. It’s particularly disappointing to lose the chance to extend the streak against UofSC and tie the series streak record — but the good news is Will Muschamp won’t be fired for at least two more seasons and their 2021 recruiting to date looks horrible. He or Phillips are in line for a heavy workload this year in what is effectively an audition to take Turner’s place next year — assuming Turner doesn’t come back for a 6th year — and his development is where we will most likely find the answer to any lingering question marks on the safety unit throughout the season. © 2005-2020 CBS INTERACTIVE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The Demon Deacons play both Notre Dame and Appalachian State in non-conference games, while hosting Miami in the Coastal Division crossover game. Best of all, no more idiotic divisions and thus a better contest in Charlotte’s ACC Championship Game. Despite the loss of wide receiver Justyn Ross to injury and others such as linebacker Isaiah Simmons to the draft, the Tigers are still shaping up to be the favorite in the conference once again in 2020 with faces such as quarterback Trevor Lawrence and running back Travis Etienne back in action, and a rather generous strength of schedule only further helps the Tigers' cause. An easy rule of thumb is you’ll find the strong (field) safety behind the nickel/Sam, and the free (boundary) safety closest to the boundary corner and Will linebacker. Ryan provided the staff’s expectations in another article, but I want to lay out a few thoughts here now that the dust has settled and all systems are go — or as much as they ever will be — for this season. Those snaps were crucial though knowing what Clemson would lose at safety after 2019, and that’s the reason he (and seemingly every other safety in last year’s class) did not redshirt in 2019. The rundown: Clemson will undoubtedly check-in as the overwhelming favorite to win the ACC for yet another year this fall, and if the talent on Dabo Swinney's roster wasn't enough to justify that, the Tigers strength of schedule -- or lack thereof -- only makes them that much safer as a pick. Then, over the final three games of November, Georgia Tech battles likely Top 10s Notre Dame and Georgia with an ACC showdown vs. Miami sandwiched between. I charted the starting defense I expect on September 12th, though there’s little doubt we’ll see this change after Dabo’s initial deference to upperclassmen expires and the freshmen (Bresee and Murphy say hello here) force their way into the large roles we expect from the 5-stars. Clemson doesn’t typecast its safeties quite so much as most defenses, especially not in this traditional sense, and it goes without saying there are far more coverage responsibilities for each position now than in the olden days. , and the ACC has six teams with an SOS that ranks within the top 50 in the nation. Venables will have to protect against opponents scheming to isolate him, but that’s long been the case at the position. Factor in the arrival of coveted Houston transfer D'Eriq King at quarterback with what ESPN's FPI ranks as the weakest schedule of any ACC team, and the ingredients are there for Miami to get the job done. 13 in Fantasy Draft rankings, Clemson Football: Balance will be the theme for the 2019 offense, Clemson Football: Freshman Tyler Davis won’t back down in competition, Belgium vs. Scotland: Euro 2020 Qualifying Odds, Live Stream, TV Info, Clemson Football: Several Tigers listed in top CFB Fantasy Draft rankings, Clemson Football: Bama listed as 2018 National Champion in NCAA record book, Clemson Football: Saturday Down South ranks Tigers No. This season’s dime will likely revert to the 3-2-6 dime alignments pre-2019. A Week 1 contest vs. West Virginia in Atlanta and then a road trip to Boise State in Week 3 makes for an intriguing non-conference slate for Florida State at the front end of the season, and that's not to mention the team's annual rivalry meeting with Florida -- a potential playoff candidate -- down the stretch. So, could 2020 see Syracuse replicate the success that Babers and Co. enjoyed two years ago? It is important to note what FPI is not -- FPI is not a playoff predictor, and it is not designed to identify the four teams most deserving of making the College Football Playoff. In many ways, it seems the ‘grueling schedule’ argument was a couple of years too late. In the 4-3, he’ll stick to free/boundary safety and his responsibility will rotate with the call and offensive formation. 1-ranked Clemson over the first month of the regular season, a grand opportunity to show the world it has made significant strides at the start of Geoff Collins' second campaign. It’s safe to say Thornton (and those behind him) will see the field plenty in September as Clemson opens the season with tuneups and builds experience for a back-loaded schedule — experience which could prove necessary should COVID hit the roster. Losing Louisville hurts, and as a South Carolinian I’m forever scarred by the SEC’s decision to drop the Palmetto Bowl. Further compounding matters is how many different bodies fill the safety room now, though all are young and unproven except Turner. The ultimate goal of FPI is not to rank teams 1 through 128; rather, it is to correctly predict games and season outcomes. Without a spring game, I’ve yet to get an adequate read on his proper strengths and weaknesses; his mostly garbage time snaps last year tells me little since a player’s greatest progression usually comes after his first year. It’s 2020’s dime that is considerably harder to project. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. he Seminoles are expected to show some growth. It’s an alignment most long-time readers are more than familiar with, and is more conducive to the defensive dominance we’ve come to expect than relying on last year’s dime to create confusion — though that certainly worked out better than we hoped until New Orleans. On a 0 to 100 scale, where 100 is best. First, with Ohio State out of the way, Clemson should be safest bet for national champion and Trevor Lawrence is a huge favorite for the Heisman. The five-time defending ACC champs check as the No. 1 team in the nation in ESPN's FPI for 2020, with Clemson favored in every game over the course of the regular season. UNC went 7-6 (4-4) in 2019 and is thriving on the recruiting trail, only adding to some high expectations for Brown and Co. in 2020. Both safeties (I’ll detail the differences in the two roles in a bit), Kendrick, the linebacking unit, Foster, and Davis are bona fide, no doubt starters. He seems to have the capability to fill either of the safety archetype roles, though especially when paired with Turner, Zanders will be the one most frequently asked to cover underneath or in space when not in a two deep call. Zanders looks like the starter for the next three or four years depending on how this extra year of eligibility shakes out for everyone, and may prove to be a star in his career. All spring and summer I chose to protect myself from potential letdown, and could not pour myself into the usual preseason prognosticating and supremely overconfident predictions in case the Powers That Be canceled the season. At a glance: Will Manny Diaz and the Hurricanes enjoy the bounce-back season that the team is looking for after stumbling to a 6-7 finish in 2019? Powered by Minute Media © 2020 All Rights Reserved. Clemson is again the toughest projected opponent for the Wolfpack, with NC State's chances of knocking off the Tigers checking in at 1.1 percent. I mention this because offenses scheming the free safety into single coverage like this has actually been Clemson’s greatest weakness in coverage in recent years, whether it was Tanner Muse or Turner in the role. The 2020 Football Schedule for the Clemson Tigers with box scores plus records, streaks, and rankings. If Vegas ever published the power rankings it uses to set its lines, they would likely look quite a lot like FPI. The deep “center fielder” archetype describes your traditional free safety. When you average out the rankings over the past four seasons, Alabama comes out to No. based on ESPN’s Football Power Index projections. I figure a little more than half of this chart is entrenched while the rest will continue to develop. The FPI rankings favor Boston College in the team's first four games of the 2020 season (home against Syracuse, home against Ohio, away against Kansas and home against Purdue), but after that, things get hairy. Notice there’s no 24/7 rating next to his name because Turner was not exactly considered a prospect by recruiting services. Virginia has less than a 5% chance of victory in each of those contests. The Yellow Jackets very likely plays three Top 20 teams including No. ESPN has other metrics, including Strength of Record, that can be used to identify the most deserving teams.". Not to mention, life in the ACC Atlantic certainly helps for a team of Clemson's caliber, as no others in the division scored more than eight victories last fall, with four at six wins or fewer. They’ve argued that Clemson football plays in a weak ACC and that gives the Tigers a built-in advantage, but the numbers don’t necessarily back up that argument. The Orange opens the season with back-to-back road games against teams with first-year coaches -- at Boston College, now under Jeff Hafley, in Week 1 before traveling to face Rutgers squad that is once again under the direction of Greg Schiano in Week 2. The Deacs, however, won't have a strong road test until right past the mid-way mark of the season, when they travel to Florida State on October 17. Is there a game or two that may test the Tide throughout a given season? The rundown: Already projected to take a step back this year after losing some significant playmakers -- including quarterback Bryce Perkins -- from a group that won the ACC Coastal, Virginia's 2020 schedule won't make things any easier for Bronco Mendenhall and Co. Clemson has dominated the ACC as the conference's champion for the past five seasons and counting, cracking the College Football Playoff's final four in each of the aforementioned seasons from 2015-19. He’s your most likely “12th starter,” like Turner was a year ago, depending on the formation shuffling. 2020 Clemson Football Season Preview: Safeties ... moving to 10 conference games actually improved Clemson’s strength of schedule while ensuring the most flexibility possible in a … Late October into mid-November may be the most pivotal stretch, as the Hurricanes face North Carolina, Virginia, Florida State and Virginia Tech in succession. The FPI rankings have the Tigers at more than a 90 percent chance of victory in 11 contests, the lone exception a road trip to Notre Dame in November (86.7% chance of victory). Beyond those two formidable matchups, the Cavaliers get the benefit of playing both North Carolina and Louisville in Charlottesville, but that won't be the case vs. Virginia Tech, as Virginia heads to Lane Stadium for this year's installment of the Commonwealth Cup. The rundown: As far as difficulty is concerned, Georgia Tech's schedule serves as quite the outlier in the ACC. Should NC State take advantage of that, a potential 3-1 start would be at least enough for the team to have some confidence entering the meat of the schedule.
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