Tiger King no more: Clemson's elite status is gone

"Tiger King" wasn't a documentary on the Clemson football team, but the former Netflix hit and the Tigers do have something in common: 2020 was the last time they were at the top of their game.

While Clemson's descent from the national picture has been significantly slower than that of infamous zookeeper Joe Exotic, Saturday's performance against Syracuse served the latest reminder that Dabo Swinney's Tigers are a ways past their peak.

The most talented Clemson team of the past five years entered the season as the ACC favorite and No. 4 in the preseason AP Poll. It leaves the first month of play with a 1-3 mark for the first time under Swinney.

The season-opening loss to LSU at home stung, but the result was acceptable given the similar talent level. Clemson certainly didn't cover itself in glory in a Week 2 win over Troy either, but it's college football. Win your clunkers and get to next week, right? However, what if the clunker ended up being the norm?

Georgia Tech didn't seem too bothered by the Tigers last week in Atlanta, as the Yellow Jackets physically bested their opponent in the upset win. That set off alarm bells for just about everyone - except Swinney, of course.

"All we've done is win," Swinney said last Tuesday during a fiery press conference, according to ESPN's Andrea Adelson. "We've won this league eight out of the last 10 years. Is that not good? I'm just asking. Is that good? To win your league eight out of 10 years, to go to the playoffs seven out of 10 years, be in four national championships, win it twice. Yeah, we're a little down right now. Take your shots. I've got a long memory. We'll be all right. We'll bounce back."

"All we've done is win" is an interesting choice of words, considering Swinney is now 3-6 in his last nine games against power conference competition. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised he played the hits since he likely wishes the college football world could rewind a decade.

Swinney famously went viral in 2014 for speaking out about players unionizing, stating he would "go do something else because there's enough entitlement in this world as it is." He's since clarified that statement, but it's safe to say he wasn't exactly at the forefront of paying players.

He's also resisted the transfer portal, a tool that the last four national champions have used extensively to supplement their rosters. He relented and added transfers this season, but his prior reluctance is akin to an NFL team skipping free agency and choosing to build through the draft alone.

Maybe Clemson's struggles aren't so complicated and can simply be explained by its lack of a Heisman-worthy quarterback. The Tigers' national title runs were largely led by future first-round picks Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence.

From 2016-20, Clemson's average offensive ranking was 11th in the country. That standing has dropped to 58th in the five seasons since Lawrence left, including this year's unit, which sat 110th nationally entering Saturday.

Cade Klubnik is a fine college quarterback, but it will be a surprise if he eventually plays on Sundays. The Tigers' play-calling suggests that they still believe there's a future pro throwing passes.

Klubnik had an eye-popping 60 passing attempts versus Syracuse. While the game script may have called for more passing, Clemson was only down 10 points at halftime, hardly in need of a panicked air-it-out offensive approach. Klubnik completed just 22 of his last 41 passes and struggled to keep the offense on the field with a dismal 4-for-18 showing on third and fourth downs.

Swinney and the Tigers snuck into the playoff last year, thanks to a surprising win in the ACC title game. They promptly lost to Texas by two touchdowns, a second defeat in the final three games of the season.

That opportunity won't be available this time around with a much-improved ACC led by resurgent Miami and Florida State. It won't matter though, because nothing we saw Saturday suggests this version of Clemson is even a lock to go bowling, let alone make the playoff.

So where does Clemson go now? Swinney ain't leaving, nor should he. He's the best coach in program history and still delivers double-digit win seasons on the regular. Most of the country would sign up for that production tomorrow.

However, Dabo has spent years selling us on Clemson being a national powerhouse with a rightful place in the championship conversation. That simply isn't true anymore, and until we see a change on the field, these Tigers are far from the king of the jungle.