Tigers drop out of Coaches Poll, stay in Top 20 for ESPN metrics

Clemson fell out of the Coaches Poll but holds Top 17 ratings for ESPN metrics FPI and SP+.

by TigerNet Staff - Sun Sep 24 12:36:53 GMT-04:00 2023

Clemson had hung on to a spot in the Coaches Poll this season, but that run ended after Saturday's 31-24 overtime loss to Top 5 Florida State.

The Tigers came in ranked No. 23 in the only of the two traditional polls to place Clemson in the Top 25. The AP Poll had Clemson just outside with the 26th-most voting points going into the weekend.

With how the games have unfolded, that doesn't mean metrics are down on the Tigers, however.

ESPN's Football Power Index didn't move Clemson up or down, maintaining a No. 17 spot and FSU staying at No. 10 there.

The metric, which favored FSU going into the matchup anyway, has Clemson a hair under seven projected regular season wins (6.8). The FPI favors Clemson opponents in matchups with Syracuse upcoming this week (55.1%; noon/ABC), Miami in October (61) and Notre Dame in early November (60.1), while taking the Tigers currently versus Wake Forest (86), NC State (72.4), North Carolina (57.4) and South Carolina (61.6).

ESPN's SP+ featured a four-spot drop for Clemson (17.1 rating), down to No. 16, and a two-spot fall for Florida State (17.4 rating), to No. 15.

Notre Dame is the lone team remaining on Clemson's schedule ahead of the Tigers in the SP+, at No. 11 (19.7), and North Carolina (25th; 14.5) and Syracuse (30th; 12.6) are also in the Top 30.

The ACC has the fifth-rated conference by the SP+ overall, which is only 0.3 rating points off of the Big Ten (6.9 to 6.4) on average. There's an over 10-point average rating drop to the next conference, the Sun Belt (-5.3 average).

Clemson was last out of the Coaches Poll midseason of the 2021 campaign.

Coaches Poll - 9/24

Rank Team Record Points 1st votes prev chg hi/lo

1 Georgia 4-0 1592 61 1 — 1/1

2 Michigan 4-0 1495 0 2 — 2/2

3 Ohio State 4-0 1414 2 4 1 3/4

4 Florida State 4-0 1390 0 3 -1 3/8

5 Texas 4-0 1336 0 6 1 5/12

6 Southern California 4-0 1288 0 5 -1 5/6

7 Penn State 4-0 1225 0 7 — 7/7

8 Washington 4-0 1194 1 8 — 8/11

9 Oregon 4-0 1071 0 11 2 9/15

10 Utah 4-0 1010 0 10 — 10/14

11 Alabama 3-1 930 0 12 1 3/12

12 Louisiana State 3-1 844 0 13 1 5/14

13 Notre Dame 4-1 837 0 9 -4 9/13

14 Oklahoma 4-0 784 0 14 — 14/19

15 North Carolina 4-0 698 0 17 2 15/20

16 Duke 4-0 605 0 18 2 16/NR

17 Washington State 4-0 555 0 24 7 17/NR

18 Miami 4-0 485 0 21 3 18/NR

19 Tennessee 3-1 404 0 20 1 9/20

20 Mississippi 3-1 305 0 16 -4 16/22

21 Oregon State 3-1 293 0 15 -6 15/21

22 Missouri 4-0 140 0 NR 5 22/NR

23 Florida 3-1 134 0 NR 6 23/NR

24 Kansas 4-0 120 0 NR 9 24/NR

25 Kansas State 3-1 109 0 NR 1 15/NR

Dropped out: No. 19 Colorado; No. 22 Iowa; No. 23 Clemson; No. 25 UCLA.

Others rec. votes: Fresno State 93; Kentucky 87; Texas Christian 54; Maryland 39; UCLA 36; Texas A&M 36; Louisville 36; Clemson 35; Syracuse 32; Colorado 29; Air Force 24; Iowa 16; Tulane 11; Wyoming 8; Marshall 2; James Madison 2; Liberty 1; Georgia St. 1.