Football schedule analysis, Basketball thoughts, Baseball soon

It has been three weeks since that glorious night in Tampa. The shine from the golden CFB Playoff trophy hasn't dulled a tiny bit.

Still, time moves on and the 2017 season is on deck. The first step in moving on came this past week when the ACC released the conference-wide football schedule. For Clemson fans, that means it's time to look forward to what is just the second season in program history as the reigning National Champions.

At first glance, I felt good about the schedule. Aside from Auburn (home) and Louisville (away), there's not a spot on the schedule that seems daunting. There are not back-to-back road games. The only non-Saturday game is a Friday night at Syracuse after a home game against Wake Forest. The dreaded triple-option of Georgia Tech visits Death Valley after a Clemson bye week, giving the Tigers an extra week of preparation. (Side note: Brent Venables does a fantastic job against this offense, so there really isn't much concern with the Jackets anymore).The Florida State game was pushed back a week from its previous two seasons' scheduled weekend and is the final conference game for Clemson. That could mean celebrating a third straight division title at the expense of the Noles.

Then, I realized the Tigers have an extremely tough opening month. New faces will be starting across the offense and at some key defensive positions with three conference games plus the home date with Auburn. It's likely that three of the five games will be against ranked opponents (Auburn, Louisville and Virginia Tech). Two of those three are road games - one against the defending Heisman winner and one a rematch of the ACC Championship game.

With the turnover and unknowns of who will be starting and how they will play in their roles, I think it's safe to say Clemson should be looking at a 4-1 start, but no worse than 3-2. If the Tigers are 5-0 entering October - which has just three games (Wake, Syracuse and Georgia Tech) - it's likely they will be 8-0 going into November and squarely in the Playoff conversation for the third straight season. Even at 7-1, Clemson won't be outside the Top 10 that late in the season.

It'll be a long down time as it usually is. However, there's no better feeling than being the defending champs during the long summer months.

On the basketball court, Clemson ended a six-game losing streak with a 67-60 road win at Pittsburgh, who is equally as bad. The Tigers are 2-6 in the ACC and 12-8 overall. Brad Brownell's squad finished the non-conference slate with an impressive 10-2 record and unbeaten month of December. But it's been all downhill since in conference play.

I love all things Clemson, so don't take this the wrong way, but with the great basketball powers in the ACC it'll be difficult for Clemson to ever sustain success. North Carolina, Duke, Syracuse, Louisville, Virginia, Notre Dame ... those schools consistently will be at the top. Clemson can certainly finish yearly in the middle-tier and make a push a few times a decade into the top five of the conference. Living there, however, won't happen.

When Oliver Purnell had success, he brought with him a different style of play. I think of it similar to what Chad Morris did with the Clemson offense. It was unique to the ACC and gave Clemson the leg up it needed. Clemson won't be able to draw in McDonald's HS All-Americans every year. Heck, to get one a decade would be nice. The Tigers will recruit what I call "the leftovers" and need to bring something different to the table to level the field. Brownell hasn't implemented anything unique and thus Clemson remains in the middle-to-bottom of the ACC.

Over to the baseball diamond where the defending ACC Champions are gearing up at another run under the second season with Monte Lee at the helm. To be honest, I haven't delved much into the baseball roster. I know a lot returns, namely National Player of the Year Seth Beer. But I'm not sure how the pitching staff looks and what the lineup looks like around Beer.

I'll get on that in the coming week or two. The season opens Feb. 17 with a series against Wright State. Clemson plays eight straight at home before the big series with rival South Carolina. The Gamecocks are a solid top five team, while Clemson is somewhere in the top 10-15 range depending on the poll you trust (and there are lots of them in college baseball).

Clemson's conference schedule is tough with Virginia, Wake Forest and Louisville among others coming to Doug Kingsmore Stadium, and the Tigers having to travel to Boston College, Georgia Tech, Florida State, North Carolina and NC State - all NCAA Tournament teams a season ago.

With Coastal Carolina winning the 2016 College World Series and South Carolina having won twice in the early part of the decade, it's time for Clemson to finally reach college baseball's pinnacle.

-BtW