Alabama Football: Danny Sheridan gives Clemson a cupcake award

Check out what Danny Sheridan has to say about the weakness of several Alabama football and Clemson regular season opponents.

A quick clarification is in order, Danny Sheridan did not discuss Clemson and Alabama football opponents as a cupcake. He didn’t even use the word cupcake, although it would have been appropriate.

What Mr. Sheridan did was publish a list of the 16 worst teams in Power Five college football. To that list, he added another 14 teams labeled as “Dishonorable Mentions” because he predicts they will “underachieve” by only winning 4-7 games in 2019.

A full read of Sheridan’s Sporting News article is well worth the time. We are skipping several other categories included by Sheridan. As tempting as it is to spill the beans, we also will not discuss Sheridan’s odds on teams making the College Football Playoff field.

As most Alabama football fans know, Sheridan is a graduate of the University of Alabama. He is also an honorary member of the Alabama Bar Association. That last fact might have prompted our quick disclaimer he did not actually use the word ‘cupcake.’

Google Danny Sheridan and you will see the claim he is the “best sports analysis and handicapper in the world.” We pretty much agree, and even if we didn’t we would give Danny every benefit of the doubt because, after all, he knows Auburn’s famous ‘Bag Man.’

Back to the Power Five ‘cupcakes’ on the regular season schedules of the game’s true behemoths, Alabama football and Clemson. According to Sheridan, Clemson plays the fourth, eighth and twelfth worst Power Five teams. Those teams are Louisville (4), Georgia Tech (8) and North Carolina (12).

The Alabama Crimson Tide rates a bit better, playing the eleventh, thirteenth and sixteenth worst Power Five teams. Those teams are Ole Miss (11), Arkansas (13) and Duke (16).

Note: the lower the number the worse the team, the worst, per Sheridan, at (1) is Oregon State.

Moving on to Danny’s “Dishonorable Mentions’ is where Clemson’s weak schedule truly stands out or better described, wilts. Among Sheridan’s 14 ‘Dishonorables,’ Clemson plays five of them. They are Boston College, Florida State, North Carolina State, Wake Forest and South Carolina.

The Alabama football cast of ‘Dishonorables’ is only two teams, Tennessee and South Carolina. We rest our cupcake case.

The ‘Another look’ linked above is an earlier Bama Hammer post. It is always good to add the opinion of experts like Sheridan. Another expert, Phil Steele rated Clemson as having the 66th toughest FBS schedule, with Alabama football at the 44th toughest.