Before the season started, I made a long post comparing Clemson's overall talent to Ohio State's by going through projected impact players. I generally used my discretion on both teams and not everything has been spot on, as they never will be. I didn't really go back to check, but I assume I used guys like Teradja Mitchell, Demario McCall,and Jaelen Gill in the example because people expected them to be real contributors. This happens everywhere every season.

I do think that just discussing players that will actually contribute in the game over "overall talent" rankings is better off, especially comparing each team in an actual game setting right now. I think that the roster talent discrepency at Clemson is that they are much more likely to really struggle if the injury bug hit them like Alabama. Even Alabama struggled to recover and I think Clemson would be legit average if they lost TLaw, Ross, Simmons, and another 2 starters which is similar to what Bama is dealing with. Ohio State would get worse without Chase Young and Jeff Okudah, no doubt, but they wouldn't be an average team. Clemson would have 3 stars that weren't hidden gems and that they know should not play at Clemson starting IMO.

In a single game, the top-end talent of Clemson helps even the playing field, but I do think that the numbers and overall rankings when you go down the line are still pretty staggering.

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/forum/ohio-state-football/2019/08/106112/...