If you know Paul Finebaum as football personality, you know he has quite to say about Dabo Swinney and the Clemson football program.
Finebaum recently made an appearance on ESPN McElroy and Cubelic in the morning and discussed how he believes Florida State has overtaken Clemson as the attractive option in the ACC. There are no surprises here; Finebaum is a true Clemson hater, whether he admits it or not.
“I think they’re already less attractive, Greg,” Finebaum said. Clemson, if you go back to 2016, 2017, 2018 – they were at the epicenter. We all joke about how boring it is that Alabama and Clemson play each other every year. Nobody is saying that anymore. They weren’t that big of a name until then. Clemson has always been a good football school, but it has never been a headliner like Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Michigan or Ohio State. Now they’ve come out of it.”
Go beyond Florida State for Finebaum, however, who sees several ACC teams on the rise while the Tigers lag behind. For the analyst, Clemson becomes less attractive every year.
“We know Florida State is ahead of them. There are other schools that could do this as well. Miami is something you just have to ask yourself. If they get Mario Cristobal right, then that will be another school that could move ahead of him,” Finebaum said. “And as you start to divide the schools, we’ve already had discussions and conversations about who’s more attractive in the ACC. North Carolina is more attractive than them. Florida State would probably be, but that simply depends on whether you have the stomach for what they’ve been doing the last two years. Clemson also has a toe in the water, which makes them immediately less attractive.
The 2024 season is an excellent opportunity for the Tigers to prove Finebaum wrong, as they have done MANY times before.
