Take two: Richt, Clemsons chance, TCUs road
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Storyline: Clemson is so good that it went to Miami and embarrassed the Hurricanes by 58 points last week to get coach Al Golden fired. The Tigers are ranked third in the AP poll and have blown out five of seven opponents. Coach Dabo Swinney's club has a relatively manageable schedule except for a tricky game at NC State this weekend and the Nov. 7 showdown against Florida State. Clemson might not be able to capitalize in a huge way this recruiting cycle but a trip to the College Football Playoff - and the way the Tigers are playing, winning it - would be huge for the 2017 recruiting class especially.
First take: "Clemson has a meager 11 seniors departing, so it has known and planned for a while for this class to be small. So after posting its highest-ranked class ever the year before, the measure for this class tilted more toward quality than quantity. While their class sits at No. 24, their commitments have the fifth-highest per-star rating in the country - proof their momentum has carried over. Furthermore, the Tigers tend to make their headlines early in a cycle and fill 80 percent of their class before the season begins." - Paul Strelow of TigerIllustrated.com
Second take: "That Nov. 7 game loses a lot of its luster because Florida State isn't undefeated but it's still a can't-lose game for Clemson. The rest of the ACC is average at best. With Clemson, this could be their best chance to win a national championship. The ACC is down and an undefeated path is right in front of them." - Farrell
3. Tough road for TCU
Storyline: TCU has had its fair share of scares this season - with close calls against Texas Tech and Kansas State - and it won't get much easier in the final month of the season. Games at Oklahoma State (which nobody is talking much about although the Cowboys are undefeated) and Oklahoma (with its one loss) will be challenging. Everybody had the Nov. 27 showdown against Baylor circled but who knows what this Bears team will now look like with quarterback Seth Russell out. Many believe TCU got jobbed out of a spot in the College Football Playoff last year. Staying undefeated in this final month won't be a cakewalk. On the recruiting front, coach Gary Patterson (above) has done a phenomenal job without that four- and five-star power. So many teams such as Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, LSU and others are vying for that top in-state talent and while TCU hasn't landed many, it hasn't mattered one bit.
First take: "They can't focus on just one opponent because they still have the two Oklahoma schools before facing the Bears. There's a lot of talk about that game because it could possibly be Nos. 1 vs. 2 and a playoff preview. The team is off to a great start to the recruiting trail, but with so many injuries and possible medical redshirts, don't expect this to be a large class. At the end of the day, the stars don't and never have mattered to Patterson. He gets the hungry players that didn't get attention from the bigger programs, and he and his coaching staff can turn those overlooked players into gems that have led TCU to having the most wins in Texas over the last decade." - Billy Wessels of PurpleMenace.com
Second take: "The pressure is on them to go undefeated. The conference is going to be looked at now as even a lesser conference especially if Baylor loses some games with Russell out. Texas isn't good and the rest of the conference isn't great so the pressure is on TCU here." - Farrell
Adam Gorney
National Recruiting Analyst
Mike Farrell
National Recruiting Director
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