Auburn football: Ranking the other Power Five conferences behind the SEC

Clemson keeps the ACC afloat

Truthfully, the ACC has been a one-horse race the last decade, with a brief period of time where Florida State was king of the castle. Clemson has been the thoroughbred running roughshod over a conference that was more invested in their hoops.

Dabo Swinney–despite being a silly man–has led the team to complete and utter dominance since he took over the team in 2008. Under his watch, Deandre Hopkins, C.J. Spiller, Sami Watkins, Deshaun Watson, and most recently Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne became top skill-position picks in the NFL Draft.

The offense isn’t the ACC Tigers’ only strength, though, as three members of the DL were selected in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, and the 2020 draft saw two defenders selected as well.

Now, if you’re wondering why Clemson has basically had three paragraphs dedicated to it and not heard about much else, it’s because:

A. No need to dedicate too much time thinking about the Seminoles anymore. And…

B. The rest of the conference is way behind.

Miami is a perennial darkhorse, and UNC has Sam Howell at the moment. Howell is the Tar Heels’ only hope of seriously competing against another loaded Clemson cast. Virginia Tech has had a few good years, but they don’t appear too competitive at the moment.

The ACC’s ace in the hole to surpass the Big Ten is getting Notre Dame to become a full-fledged conference member, but the Fighting Irish may enjoy their independent status too much.