It's horrid:

Georgia Tech
Texas A&M
@ Syracuse
Charlotte
@ UNC
FSU
@ Louisville
Boston College
Wofford
@ NC State
Wake Forest
@ South Carolina

They will likely be one of the top 3 teams in the country next year, but we won't know it until the playoffs.

In Clemson's four discretionary games, they play:

Texas A&M
South Carolina
Wofford
Charlotte


In Notre Dame's seven discretionary games, they play:

New Mexico
Georgia
Bowling Green
Michigan
USC
Navy
Stanford


Of those 11 teams, Georgia seems pretty clearly to be the pick of the litter. I'm not sure that, based upon the past few seasons, any of USC, Michigan, Stanford, Texas A&M and South Carolina is head-and-shoulders above the other.

Frankly, I have no idea who is the shittiest among Wofford, Charlotte, Bowling Green and New Mexico -- although I know that at least one of those schools has a head coach that has no business coaching at Notre Dame.

I suppose that it could depend on whether you'd compare those unequally numbered cohorts from top to bottom or from bottom to top, but in any event, I don't find Clemson's discretionary schedule radically worse than Notre Dame's.

Say what you will about Bama’s QB issues, Clemson punched them in the mouth.

Maybe having the easier schedule keeps them fresh for that deep run, but they are simply outperforming against the best.

I forgot that Pitt won the Coastal Division with a sterling 7-5 record.

I forgot that, outside of Clemson, the only team in the ACC to finish in the top 25 was Syracuse.

I forgot that the only team outside of Clemson and Syracuse to even get a vote in the AP Top 25 poll was NC State.

Good Lord, this conference blows.

It does, but it shouldn't. You have a number of schools in the fertile south. You have a number of schools with strong tradition. You have the mid atlantic/DC area dominated, which is surprisingly talent rich. You have schools with money and prestige and those that care about winning.

So why the hell does it blow so badly right now?

Fucking shit show.

UNC CHARLOTTE?

WOFFORD? Fucking WOFFORD?

No one better bitch about ND’s schedule with this fuckarow.

of any major conference in the country last year. It particularly hurt when the two historically best programs in the conference had 1) a good coach clearly on his way out and 2) an unproven (and seemingly underachieving) guy managing a mess of a roster. Virtually all of the middle to upper-middle tier programs except VT (and maybe NC State) have guys that they either fired/forcibly retired or will be on the hot seat this year.