Great write up as always Smoov.
Just a couple thoughts to share. Yes, Clemson has racked up impressive team numbers, but I'm concerned those stats were racked up against inferior competition. Jeff Sagarin has Clemson SoS at 56th and 2-0 vs. Sagarin Top 30. On the other hand, he has LSU at 7th in SoS and they're 7-0 against Top 30 (3-0 vs. Top 10). However, Sagarin does have Clemson power ranked at #2, and LSU at #3. So despite this SoS mismatch, his own rankings have Clemson one spot higher.
I do agree with you that Clemson is battle tested. Not just for the reasons you mention, but also weren't we just in this same spot one year ago? Clemson was a underdog to Bama (I can't remember the spread) and was basically given no chance. Then they came out and beat Alabama soundly. Tough one.
I hope we'll get some more analysis from others on this thread.