Clemson Most Overrated Top-15 Team by Large Margin Through Week 6 According to Latest MaxDiff Poll

The Clemson Tigers haven't gotten a lot of love from national top-25 polls lately, and the most recent MaxDiff Fan Perceptions Poll delivered, perhaps, the least optimistic blow of the season to date.

Just one week after Clemson's No. 1 spot in the AP Top-25 Poll was usurped by the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Tigers have now fallen to No. 6 in the post-Week 6 MaxDiff poll, making them the most overrated top-15 team by quite a wide margin.

Sitting at No. 6 in the MaxDiff Poll, four spots behind their No. 2 position in the latest Week 7 AP Top-25 Poll, Clemson proved the only top-15 team to be voted more than than a single spot lower than its respective AP Poll position. Among all top-25 teams, Wake Forest was the only team voted more overrated in its relative MaxDiff Poll position, sitting six spots behind its No. 19 spot in the AP Poll.

Clemson spent Week 6 of the college football season on bye, but the Tigers certainly didn't go into this break on the same terms most were expecting by this time in the year.

In their most recent game, the Tigers came one failed 2-point conversion attempt short of their first loss of the season against the unranked North Carolina Tar Heels in Week 5. And yes, that's also the same UNC team that lost to an FCS opponent in Appalachian State, 34-31, the week prior.

While it's hard to knock an undefeated No. 2 team in the nation, it all feels relative with Clemson. The Tigers came into the 2019 college football season with arguably the most hype and potential of any defending national champion we've seen in recent memory.

Riding high on what many have already labeled to be one of the most NFL-ready quarterback prospects college football has ever seen in the 6-foot-6, 220-pound, 19-year-old true sophomore Trevor Lawrence, Clemson was set to wreak havoc on a drastically less-competitive ACC on the way to an undefeated season and a berth in the 2020 College Football Playoff this season.

Yet, Lawrence has already thrown five interceptions – one more than his 2018 total – through five starts in 2019, and the teenage phenom has also dropped from being the lone betting favorite to win the 2019 Heisman Trophy in the preseason to +5000 (currently tied for the 10th-best odds), according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

The Tigers are still one of the most talented teams on paper, but it's going to be a tough task to repeat without Lawrence firing on all cylinders, as Clemson lost a ton of defensive talent from last year's No. 1 ranked scoring defense.

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David Hayes is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David Hayes also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username DavidWHayes. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.