The Clemson Tigers had an impressive defense statistically last season.
Nationally, the Tigers were No. 8 in passing yards allowed (173.2) and No. 8 in total yards allowed (287.8). Clemson was also No. 22 in rushing yards allowed (114.6) and tied for No. 29 in points allowed per game (21.1).
All of this had an impact on Clemson’s defensive power ranking when EA Sports issued the College Football 25 ratings earlier this week. In fact, the Clemson defense performed better than the offense, which ranked tenth. Clemson’s defense ranked fifth overall, with a rating of 90.
To get to the rating, EA Sports said that its development team examined hundreds of thousands of data points, analyzed all 134 FBS roster, including thousands of players. The team also examined game film and statistics, in consultation with experts at Pro Football Focus.
Those rankings are also subject to change when EA makes updates, presumably during the season.
The Tigers are coming off a great season defensively, which helped them go 9-4 and win a bowl game. But, they aren’t returning that many starters, in part because the Tigers lost five players to the NFL.
Chief among those returning starters will be linebacker Barrett Carter. The senior was second on the team in tackles with 67 (behind Jeremiah Trotter Jr.). Strong safety R.J. Mickens is the other senior returning as a starter. Khalil Barnes is part of a young crop of players that could make big leaps in development after they were freshmen last season.
Ahead of Clemson in the power rankings were Ohio State (96 OVR), Georgia (94 OVR), Oregon (90 OVR) and Alabama (90 OVR).
Clemson opens the season on Aug. 31 in Atlanta against Georgia.
