The Clemson Tigers have the 23rd most wins in history of any college football teams with 680 overall. The Tigers have one National Championship to their credit, back in the 1981 season. They were tied by Florida State University for most titles in the ACC for football with 14 after Florida State won last year. Dabo Swinney has been their coach for the past 6 seasons, posting a coaching record of 51-23, which is currently a better percentage than both of his predecessors, Tommy Bowden and Tommy West. The Tigers have a rough road ahead of them this season because the Tigers lost a dearth of quality players to the NFL this past season. In addition, the Tigers have last year's National Champion, the Florida State Seminoles and the Heisman trophy winner, Jameis Winston, in the same division of the ACC, the Atlantic Division. Despite how good Florida State was last season, Clemson had an excellent season as well.

2013 Clemson Tigers 11-2

August 31st--Win - Georgia Bulldogs, 38-35
September 7th--Win - South Carolina State Bulldogs, 52-13
September 19th--Win at North Carolina State Wolfpack, 26-14
September 28th--Win - Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 56-7
October 5th--Win at Syracuse Orange, 49-14
October 12th--Win - Boston College Eagles, 24-14
October 19th--Loss - Florida State Seminoles, 14-51
October 26th--Win at Maryland Terrapins, 40-27
November 2nd--Win at Virginia Cavaliers, 59-10
November 14th--Win - Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 55-31
November 23rd--Win - The Citadel Bulldogs, 52-6
November 30th--Loss at South Carolina Gamecocks, 17-31

Orange Bowl: January 3rd--Win - Ohio State Buckeyes, 40-35

The Tigers had a great season, but they lost some of their best talent. The most notable of the players who are now in the NFL is wide receiver Sammy Watkins. He went as the fourth player overall to the Buffalo Bills after recording 101 catches for 1,464 yards and 12 touchdowns this past season. Their second receiver Martavis Bryant also was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth round.  Tajh Boyd, the quarterback for Clemson in 2013, started the previous three years and was selected by the New York Jets in the sixth round. They also lost an offensive lineman Brandon Thomas to the 49ers in round 3 and then cornerback Bashaud Breeland to the Redskins in round 4. As always, the protocol in sports is next man up.

Cole Stoudt will most likely be the starting quarterback for the Tigers this fall. He is 6'4" 210 lbs, and wears number 18 for the Tigers. When he played last year, he completed 47 of 59 pass attempts, throwing for 5 touchdowns. Zac Brooks and D.J. Howard will likely be a platoon at running back with the incumbent starter Roderick McDowell, who gained over 1,000 yards this past season, has graduated. Senior Adam Humphries should take over as the number one wide receiver for the Tigers this fall. He started 10 games last year and had 483 receiving yards. However, there is one player that is returning that had a huge impact last year. and is projected to be another first rounder from Clemson this coming year. His name is Vic Beasley and he plays on the defensive side of the ball.

Beasley projects to be a pass rushing outside linebacker in the NFL. Playing defensive end as a Junior, he recorded 44 total tackles, 23 of which were for losses, making opponents lose 135 yards. 13 of those tackles for loss were sacks and he also added 6 pass breakups. Beasley would want to add some weight to play defensive end in the NFL, as his college profile states his weight at 235 lbs. Currently he is projected to be a late first rounder, but there should be no surprise if he moves up draft boards with an electric 2014 season for Clemson.

When talking about college football, school traditions are simply a required topic of discussion. Clemson has one of the more intriguing traditions in touching Howard's Rock as they come down into the football stadium. It's interesting to note that this rock was used as a doorstop by former Clemson Head Coach, Frank Howard. Then they put it on the hill that the players ran down to enter the game in the mid 60's and they have been doing it ever since. Traditions of college football run from the intriguing to the bizarre, but Howard's Rock is definitely a time honored tradition at this point.

The schedule for the Clemson Tigers in 2014 is as follows:

August 30th--at Georgia Bulldogs
September 6th--vs South Carolina State Bulldogs
September 20th--at Florida State Seminoles
September 27th--vs North Carolina Tar Heels
October 4th--vs North Carolina State Wolfpack
October 11th--vs Louisville Cardinals
October 18th--at Boston College Eagles
October 25th--vs Syracuse Orange (Homecoming)
November 6th--at Wake Forest Demon Deacons
November 15th--at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
November 22nd--vs Georgia State Panthers
November 29th--vs South Carolina Gamecocks

The Tigers will have to jump start their season again this year by playing a power conference team in Georgia again in the season opener. This year's game will be played between the hedges in Athens, Georgia. However, the biggest game of the year for them comes on September 20th when they go on the road again to play against famous Jameis and the Florida State Seminoles. They have two weeks to prepare for that game, but so do the Seminoles. The Seminoles get two weeks after opening against a quality opponent, the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Dallas, Texas at the "Jerrydome." Another date to circle will be when they play their first conference game against new divisional foe Louisville. It should be intriguing to look exactly what happens when these teams go head-to-head. The other game that you can't forget to look is the finale, the non-conference game for the battle of the Palmetto State, the in-state rivalry against South Carolina. Clemson simply has a lot on their plate this year and their talent doesn't exactly match up as well as they did last season. They will probably go around 8-4 with this schedule this year with losses to Georgia, Florida State, and South Carolina. It's possible they could sneak away with a win in one of those and sweep their schedule, so their best case scenario is probably around 11-2 with a bowl win. It just looks like the cabinet is too bare for the Clemson Tigers to fill all their needs and get the wins they are seeking to repeat a performance from last year, but everyone knows Dabo will get them going and they will fight hard in each and every game.