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Ohio State Football: Stop ranking teams based on last year’s success

By David Wysong

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 28: Trevor Lawrence #16 of the Clemson Tigers looks to the sideline during the first half of their game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Kenan Stadium on September 28, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 28: Trevor Lawrence #16 of the Clemson Tigers looks to the sideline during the first half of their game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Kenan Stadium on September 28, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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At Ohio State’s expense, voters in the AP, Coaches, and CFP polls seem to always reward teams for their performances from the previous season.

After dominating in the 2018-19 College Football Playoff and winning the national championship, Clemson had been No. 1 in every AP and Coaches Poll up until this week when they finally moved down to No. 2. This is despite the fact they haven’t played nearly as good as teams like Ohio State.

The voters seem to be basing their votes on Clemson’s performance from last year as this is clearly not the same team from last season – they have not been the best team in the country or even the second-best.

Clemson’s best win this season was over Texas A&M and A&M is only 3-2 with a loss to Auburn ad they almost lost to unranked Arkansas on Saturday. Additionally, Clemson beat North Carolina 21-20 on Saturday only because they stopped the Tar Heels from converting a two-point conversion to win.

North Carolina is a 2-3 team

The polls are supposed to be based on the top teams from that particular season but that is not what the voters are doing.

For the integrity of college football, they need to start doing that right now.

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Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, LSU and Oklahoma have all looked better than Clemson so far this season. Alabama finally jumped them to claim the No. 1 spot but Clemson is still above Georgia, Ohio State, LSU and Oklahoma.

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence has eight touchdowns and five interceptions so far this year. Georgia’s Jake Fromm, Ohio State’s Justin Fields, LSU’s Joe Burrow, and Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts have all looked significantly better than him.

In fact, LSU, Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Georgia all have looked better on offense overall as each of them are averaging a significant amount of more points per game than Clemson and a lot more yards per game as well. Their offenses look head and shoulders better than the Tigers’.

Clemson’s defense is a top 10 defense right now, only allowing 255.2 yards per game, but Ohio State’s defense is No. 2 in the nation, only allowing 223.8. How are the Buckeyes still ranked below the Tigers?

Moving forward, Clemson’s strength of schedule is very weak as their toughest game will be against Wake Forest while Georgia and LSU will play in the gauntlet of the SEC, Oklahoma has to play Texas, and Ohio State has to play Michigan State, Penn State, Wisconsin, and other Big Ten powerhouses.

Clemson has not looked like a team that should be in the College Football Playoff so far this year, let alone a team that should be ranked No. 2 in the country. Going forward, several teams will have to record a number of more impressive wins than Clemson will have to, meaning that nothing the Tigers do the rest of the season should warrant a top-four ranking.

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For the integrity of the game, please don’t rank teams based on previous seasons anymore. Put Clemson where they belong which is – at the very least – below Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, LSU and Oklahoma.

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