Clemson provides a measuring stick for a building Miami to aspire to

The University of Miami hired Mario Cristobal to build the UM football team back into one of the elite programs in the country again.

This week, Miami will travel to Clemson and compete against one of the top football programs of the past decade. 

Clemson (9-1, 7-0) is once again in a position to compete for the ACC Championship. The Tigers are coming off a 31-16 win over Louisville on Saturday. Two weeks ago, Clemson suffered its only loss of the season, a 35-14 defeat at Notre Dame. 

Miami (5-5, 3-3) is coming off a 35-14 win at Georgia Tech on Saturday. 

The Hurricanes are a long ways away from being the type of program that Clemson has established in recent years and it has shown during the three match-ups between the two schools since 2015 with the Tigers winning those games by a combined score of 138-20. Miami featured three different head coaches in those match-ups with Al Golden, Mark Richt, and Manny Diaz all losing significantly to Dabo Swinney. 

Clemson is averaging 409 yards of offense and 34.2 points per game this season. The Tigers are allowing 340 yards and 21 points per game.

Miami is set to play Clemson in 2023 and 2024 as well.

Read on for a look at the key players for this 2022 Clemson team.