The 2016/2017 Clemson Tigers own the second-worst College Football Playoff National Championship run, according to ESPN's Bill Connelly, who ranked all 64 teams ever to make the field ahead of the 2025/2026 CFP.
One of Connelly's major reasons for dinging the Tigers so heavily despite owning fewer losses than teams ahead of them was Clemson's unimpressive wins over the Auburn Tigers, Troy Trojans, and Bobby Petrino-coached, Lamar Jackson-powered Louisville Cardinals that year.
"Clemson nearly lost to Auburn, Troy and Lamar Jackson's Louisville team early and did lose to Pitt in mid-November. But as would become a Dabo Swinney custom, the Tigers turned into Angry Clemson after their loss, humiliating South Carolina, keeping Virginia Tech mostly at arm's reach and shutting out Ohio State. Trailing Bama by 10 in the final, the Tigers played a nearly perfect fourth quarter, exhausting the Tide's defense and scoring the title-winning touchdown with one second remaining," Connelly wrote.
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Auburn gave Deshaun Watson hell in razor-thin Clemson win
Kevin Steele's defense, which featured first-year position coaches Wesley McGriff and Travis Williams on Gus Malzahn's coaching staff, gave Deshaun Watson all he could handle in that Week 1 first half of a home-and-home series matchup at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Watson threw a pick to Rudy Ford during the game and had 248 passing yards, his third-lowest output against a Power 5 program that season. His lowest output was during a 54-0 win over the Syracuse Orange, and his second-lowest was out of hand early, with a 21-0 first-quarter lead over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons that forced adjustments to the gameplan to a run-heavy, clock-killing operation, in a 35-13 win. Watson was also sacked twice by Rashaan Evans.
That Auburn team was 7-2 before losing three of its last four: the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry Game against the Georgia Bulldogs, the Iron Bowl against the Alabama Crimson Tide, and the Sugar Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners.
At the time, it was a disappointing season, starting 1-2 with losses to Clemson and the TAMU Aggies. The past five years have shown us that these were the good old days on the Plains.