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Outside of Clemson, it's been tough sledding for the Atlantic Coast Conference early.

On Tuesday, two more longtime college football analysts issued sharp criticism of the conference's performance to date.

Said Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell: "After Clemson, the ACC is a disaster. A few weeks ago, I talked about how I felt the SEC was overrated as a conference and a few things still make me think that to be true. But the SEC is a Ferrari when compared to the clunker that is the ACC."

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Clemson (3-0, 2-0) has held on to its No. 1 ranking, blowing out all three of its opponents. Just two additional teams in the conference remain undefeated: Wake Forest (3-0) and #21 Virginia (3-0).

Miami, Florida State, Pitt and Georgia Tech have staggered to 1-2 starts. Tech dropped a home game to FCS member The Citadel over the weekend. Virginia Tech (2-1) struggled with FCS member Furman at home and 20-point favorite Boston College (2-1) was blasted by Kansas on Friday. The Jayhawks lost to Coastal Carolina a week earlier.

Added Farrell: "It’s clear the ACC is the worst of the Power Five conferences from top to bottom and that’s saying something when you consider how bad the Pac-12 is. If you believe Clemson is already so much better than the rest of the conference, it could be scary how big the gap is in a few years."

Yahoo! Sports National Analyst Pat Forde also was not at a loss for words on the ACC: "Wow, has the non-Clemson portion of the ACC been bad. That 3-7 record against Power Five competition is cringe-worthy, and there have been a couple of non-P5 losses that were brutal as well.

"The motley state of the conference now puts pressure on Clemson to go 13-0 because its strength of schedule looks like it will be suspect."

Clemson remains a pick for the College Football Playoffs by both analysts.

The Tigers host Charlotte (2-1) this weekend in a 7:30 p.m. game. Clemson is a 42-point favorite over the 49ers.

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