2017 was a rebuilding year for Clemson. Yes, a year in which they went 11-1 in the regular season, won the conference handily, and then made the semis of the College Football Playoffs was a low-expectation, rebuild year.
After losing the best player in program history in Deshaun Watson to the NFL in 2016 along with a slew of other talent that helped them to the national title that year, the Tigers only slipped up once during the regular season in 2017 during a trip to Syracuse. The Tigers would rebound all the way through dismantling Miami in the ACC Championship Game before losing to the Saban Death Machine in the first round of the playoff.