At many college football locales, an 11-3 record is cause for a parade. Or perhaps a school holiday. Not at Clemson, however, where 11-3 can get an assistant coach dismissed. So it went in Death Valley after last season when Dabo Swinney, dissatisfied with the offense, sent OC Brandon Streeter packing after being promoted from within the year before, then lured Garrett Riley from the wildly successful TCU juggernaut of a season ago. This was reminiscent of Swinney a decade ago when looking outside the Tiger family for new coordinators Chad Morris (offense) and Brent Venables (defense), moves that set up a big rest of the decade for the Tigers.

After last season, Dabo was already in a bad mood as the Tigers lost three of their last six, including the end of their 40-game Death Valley win streak when cross-state South Carolina stole a 31-30 verdict. Getting pushed around by Tennessee in the Orange Bowl wasn't much fun, either. We wonder, too, about the Trevor Lawrence Effect, the bar set so high after the Tigers lost just two games in three years with the eventual No. 1 overall pick in the fold; three losses in each of the last two seasons, which used to be cause for celebrations, is simply unacceptable in these parts nowadays. Indeed, Dabo isn't happy unless his team is into the College Football Playoff semifinals, which was part of the Clemson schedule until the past two seasons.  

Bruce Marshall's full breakdown of Clemson's 2023 outlook, which includes how he's playing their win total, can be found below as part of SportsLine's preview of the ACC season.

ACC preview: Conference winner | Boston College | Clemson | Duke | Florida State | Georgia Tech | Louisville | Miami | NC State | North Carolina | Pittsburgh | Syracuse | Virginia | Virginia Tech | Wake Forest

2023 Clemson at a glance

• Last Year: 11-3 SU, 7-7 ATS, 7-7 O/U 
  
• Returning Starters: Offense 7; Defense 8
• Win Total: 10 (Over -115, Under -120)
  

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