Once again, this ESPN analyst is skeptical of where Clemson stands in the College Football Playoff rankings.

After checking in at No. 23 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings on Nov. 5, Clemson (7-2, 6-1 ACC) moved up to No. 20 on Tuesday when the second CFP rankings of the 2024 season were unveiled.

ESPN’s Greg McElroy gave his reaction to Clemson’s latest ranking and shared his candid thoughts about where the Tigers were slotted by the CFP Selection Committee.

“Clemson’s at 20. I’m not sure they should be ranked, if you want my personal opinion,” McElroy said on his Always College Football show. “Not because I think that Clemson’s not capable – they’ve beaten a lot of really good teams convincingly. Well, I take that back – they’ve beaten some solid teams convincingly, but the two really good teams they’ve played, they were not competitive against Georgia and Louisville.

“So if Clemson were to have been a little lower, I would not have had a problem with that. If they would have been outside the top 25, I would have understood that as well.”

McElroy also questioned Clemson’s initial No. 23 ranking last week, saying Dabo Swinney’s team “has no business being in the top 25.”

This week, McElroy opined that Clemson – which holds the record for consecutive years making the CFP (six straight seasons from 2015-20) and has twice won the CFP National Championship Game (tied for second with Georgia) – “might be the program that is benefitting most from brand bias right now” when it comes to the CFP rankings.

“If you want my personal opinion on one through 25, the team that is benefitting most from brand bias, I think, is Clemson,” he said. “Their best win right now is against a 5-4 Virginia team. Their two games against teams with a pulse both were losses and convincing ones at that.”

McElroy will be the color analyst for ESPN’s broadcast of Clemson’s game at Pitt on Saturday, which is set for a noon kickoff at the Panthers’ Acrisure Stadium.

Louisville (No. 19) is ranked one spot ahead of Clemson in the second set of CFP rankings after upsetting the Tigers on Nov. 2 at Death Valley, while Miami (No. 9) and SMU (No. 14) are the other ACC teams in the second CFP rankings.

Tuesday night marked the second of six weekly CFP Top 25 announcements televised on ESPN, leading up to the sixth and final reveal on Selection Day (Sunday, Dec. 8).

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