The Clemson offense was nothing short of incredible this past season. They were very productive, explosive, and had a wealth of talent to utilize across the board, making the jobs of co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott and Tony Elliott a whole lot of fun.
As all coaches want, as the season went on, they seemed to play better and better and it all came together in the national title game against Alabama when the Tigers offense put up 44 points and freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw for nearly 350 yards and three touchdowns in a dominating performance.
But regardless of how well they played against even a Nick Saban coached defense, there are always analysts and fans who feel like SEC defenses are the measuring stick that all other defenses are measured against. It happens with fans on social media, analysts, the worldwide leader, and it seems like everyone in between.
This past season, Mississippi State (#2) and Kentucky (#6) were the only SEC teams to finish in the top 10 in scoring defense. In 2017 only Alabama (#1) and Georgia (#6) made the top 10 in the same category. 2016 was the league's best showing in the scoring defense category with four teams represented (#1 Alabama, #5 LSU, #6 Florida, #7 Auburn).
Clemson co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Jeff Scott shared the following tweet to quiet the SEC bias chatter.
The numbers Scott points out against SEC defenses tutored by Saban, Will Muschamp, and Mike Elko from Texas A&M (who is currently fielding NFL defensive coordinator interest, according to reports) are really impressive, and while their ACC opponents certainly have familiarity in their favor, the stats when you put them side-by-side are eye opening.
Next time someone mentions that SEC bias, especially when it comes to the comparing them with the ACC, you might want to pull this up.