There were plenty of lopsided scores in the first full weekend of college football. Games like Ole Miss 76, Furman 0 are not intended to be contests between two equal teams.
But at least one of the lopsided scores wasn’t supposed to be that way: Georgia 34, Clemson 3.
Yes, the Bulldogs are the No. 1-ranked team in the country. Clemson came in with a No. 14 ranking, but the Tigers could not keep up after a close first half. Georgia made it look easy.
It didn’t used to be this way for Clemson. They won national championships in 2016 and 2018, but have fallen off noticeably.
There is a reason: Clemson is virtually the only big-time team that does not scour college football’s transfer portal for players who are considering switching schools.
The CBS Sports website had a good analysis of the flaws of this strategy after Saturday’s loss to Georgia. It said Clemson has not started a transfer player in the portal era. Also, the Tigers were the only FBS team not to add any transfer players in the offseason. The result is 34-3.
It is admirable that coach Dabo Swinney has remained loyal to the players he recruited instead of fishing for guys from other schools who are willing to relocate. But sometimes a recruiting class doesn’t work out, and when that happens, coaches now can look for other players.
In Sunday night’s LSU-Southern California game, for example, running back Woody Marks scored two touchdowns, including the game-winner for the Trojans. If his name is familiar, it’s because he is fresh out of the transfer portal, having moved to USC from Mississippi State.
Marks was among dozens of college football players seeking opportunities to further their careers. This makes it much more difficult for fans to keep up with the players on their favorite teams, and the idea of college players transferring without penalty is going to take a while before it’s widely accepted.
There are other things to dislike about the transfer portal. Using it means coaches have less faith in their existing players. Over time, this will lessen the importance of recruiting high school graduates, since coaches will have a second chance to go after they guys they missed.
But non-athletic college students switch schools all the time. This is not much different than people who quit one workplace for another that they think is better for them. And coaches have been using a transfer portal for years. Remember how Tommy Tuberville left Ole Miss, and the way Nick Saban left LSU?
Both the transfer portal and the name-image-likeness money suddenly available to college athletes make it clear that college football is obsessed with money. So did that Big Ten logo on the USC jerseys Sunday night. The business of the game is changing, and the coaches have no choice but to change with it.
Basically, Dabo Swinney continues to use a typewriter while his competitors are using personal computers and smartphones. To put it in college football terms, the Clemson coach’s decision not to use the transfer portal is a Woody Hayes run-all-the-time game plan from 1969. Everyone else is trying to imitate the 2019 LSU team, with Joe Burrow throwing all over the field to Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase.
“We do what’s best for Clemson, year in and year out,” Swinney told reporters after Saturday’s beatdown. But the evidence is in. Clemson has not been to the college playoffs in four years, which just happens to be when the transfer portal opened. Nothing that happened Saturday says it can compete this year. The football team is being left behind because of its coach’s stubborn refusal to change with the times.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
