Saturday’s beatdown at the hands of top-ranked Georgia is a hangover that carried into Tuesday for the Clemson Tigers. While Dabo Swinney and his team were beginning the process of looking ahead to this weekend’s home opener with Appalachian State, the media and Dabo’s peers were taking a final look back at what happened in Atlanta.
The first regular season AP and coaches’ rankings were released on Tuesday, and in each, Clemson took quite a tumble. The Tigers fell from eight spots in the coaches’ poll from 14th to 22nd and took an even bigger fall in the Associated Press poll, where Clemson is now 25th, after starting the season ranked number fourteen.
Clemson earned a total of 124 points with 16th being its high mark in the ranking this week. South Carolina’s AP voter Pete Yanity left the Tigers out of the 25 in his ranking. Among national voters, Rece Davis ranked the Tigers 20th, Adam Zucker had them 22nd and Brett McMurphy placed them 23rd.
Last season the Tigers began at #9 then dropped to #25 after losing the opener at Duke. They did not return to the ranking until their bowl win over Kentucky elevated the Tigers to #20.
Georgia is number one in both polls, followed by Ohio State and Texas. Alabama is fourth in each, with Ole Miss checking in at #5 in the coaches’ poll, while Notre Dame is fifth in the AP rankings.
Coastal Carolina, after its 55-27 season opening win at Jacksonville State, received one vote in the coaches’ poll.
AP Top 25
| RK | Team | REC | PTS | TREND |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia(57) | 1-0 | 1545 | – |
| 2 | Ohio State(5) | 1-0 | 1478 | – |
| 3 | Texas | 1-0 | 1418 | 1 |
| 4 | Alabama | 1-0 | 1309 | 1 |
| 5 | Notre Dame | 1-0 | 1240 | 2 |
| 6 | Ole Miss | 1-0 | 1212 | – |
| 7 | Oregon | 1-0 | 1197 | 4 |
| 8 | Penn State | 1-0 | 1146 | – |
| 9 | Missouri | 1-0 | 968 | 2 |
| 10 | Michigan | 1-0 | 935 | 1 |
| 11 | Utah | 1-0 | 897 | 1 |
| 12 | Miami | 1-0 | 893 | 7 |
| 13 | Southern Cal | 1-0 | 811 | 10 |
| 14 | Tennessee | 1-0 | 784 | 1 |
| 15 | Oklahoma | 1-0 | 703 | 1 |
| 16 | Oklahoma State | 1-0 | 610 | 1 |
| 17 | Kansas State | 1-0 | 607 | 1 |
| 18 | LSU | 0-1 | 410 | 5 |
| 19 | Kansas | 1-0 | 349 | 3 |
| 20 | Arizona | 1-0 | 339 | 1 |
| 21 | Iowa | 1-0 | 294 | 4 |
| 22 | Louisville | 1-0 | 188 | NR |
| 23 | Georgia Tech | 2-0 | 161 | NR |
| 24 | NC State | 1-0 | 142 | – |
| 25 | Clemson | 0-1 | 134 | 11 |
Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 97, Boston College 49, Boise State 47, Iowa State 32, Memphis 27, Nebraska 27, SMU 23, Washington 20, Liberty 12, Wisconsin 8, Vanderbilt 8, Auburn 8, Tulane 4, North Carolina 4, UTSA 3, App State 3, West Virginia 2, Kentucky 2, Arkansas 2, UNLV 1, Colorado 1
Dropped from rankings: Florida State 10, Texas A&M 20
AFCA Coaches Poll
| RK | Team | REC | PTS | TREND |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia(51) | 1-0 | 1371 | – |
| 2 | Ohio State(3) | 1-0 | 1316 | – |
| 3 | Texas(1) | 1-0 | 1245 | 1 |
| 4 | Alabama | 1-0 | 1172 | 1 |
| 5 | Ole Miss | 1-0 | 1081 | 1 |
| 6 | Oregon | 1-0 | 1080 | 3 |
| 7 | Notre Dame | 1-0 | 1079 | – |
| 8 | Penn State | 1-0 | 987 | 1 |
| 9 | Michigan | 1-0 | 919 | 1 |
| 10 | Missouri | 1-0 | 848 | 1 |
| 11 | Utah | 1-0 | 779 | 2 |
| 12 | Tennessee | 1-0 | 753 | 3 |
| 13 | Oklahoma | 1-0 | 705 | 3 |
| 14 | Southern Cal | 1-0 | 655 | 9 |
| 15 | Miami | 1-0 | 650 | 4 |
| 16 | Kansas State | 1-0 | 537 | 1 |
| 17 | Oklahoma State | 1-0 | 499 | 1 |
| 18 | Arizona | 1-0 | 348 | 3 |
| 19 | LSU | 0-1 | 341 | 7 |
| 20 | Kansas | 1-0 | 295 | 4 |
| 21 | Iowa | 1-0 | 260 | 4 |
| 22 | Clemson | 0-1 | 223 | 8 |
| 23 | NC State | 1-0 | 154 | 1 |
| 24 | Louisville | 1-0 | 101 | NR |
| 25 | Washington | 1-0 | 95 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Georgia Tech 86, Texas A&M 78, Memphis 43, Kentucky 23, Boise State 22, SMU 19, Auburn 13, Wisconsin 11, Iowa State 10, Tulane 9, UNLV 9, Liberty 9, Maryland 9, Nebraska 8, Boston College 7, South Florida 5, Air Force 4, James Madison 4, UTSA 3, App State 3, North Carolina 3, Texas State 2, Coastal Carolina 1, Syracuse 1
Dropped from rankings: Florida State 10, Texas A&M 20