Should South Carolina be in College Football Playoff? Here’s what Dabo Swinney says
Will South Carolina football make the College Football Playoff?
The most recent coach to face the Gamecocks won’t go as far as making predictions, but Clemson’s Dabo Swinney said he’d have no issue with that happening.
“I think they can certainly play with anybody,” Swinney said Tuesday.
Speaking during his weekly news conference ahead of the 2024 ACC championship game, Swinney had a lot of kind words for coach Shane Beamer’s program after USC went into Memorial Stadium and beat Clemson, 17-14, on Saturday.
South Carolina now finds itself on the bubble of the 12-team CFP field at 9-3 and 5-3 in SEC play. USC has won six games in a row for the first time since 2013 and a school-record four consecutive games against ranked opponents.
The Tigers fell to 9-3 (7-1 ACC) after the South Carolina loss and would’ve been eliminated from the playoff field ... but Syracuse upset Miami later on Saturday, sending the Tigers to the league title game in Charlotte this weekend to play SMU.
Clemson can secure an automatic bid to the 12-team playoff by winning the ACC title and could also be in position for a first-round bye. The CFP awards automatic bids to the five highest-ranked conference champs and first-round byes to the top four.
Should rival South Carolina, which is idle this week, also get in?
“I don’t know,” Swinney said. “It’s the system, right? I didn’t make the system. If you’re gonna have a national championship, you’ve gotta recognize the nation. That’s all you can do. That’s what everybody wanted, so that’s where we are.”
Earlier in his news conference, Swinney also praised South Carolina’s résumé as he discussed the parity in college football nowadays and the strength of the three opponents (Georgia, Louisville and USC) that Clemson’s lost to this year.
“We lost to a really good South Carolina team that dominated Texas A&M,” Swinney said. “A lot of people said Texas A&M was the best team in the (SEC), right? They dominated Texas A&M.”
“They scored a million points on LSU, on Oklahoma. They scored a bunch in Tuscaloosa. I mean, they beat Missouri. They dominated a tough Kentucky team.”
Swinney added of South Carolina’s 17-14 win against the Tigers on Saturday: “That was the second fewest points they’ve scored all year. Was a very tough game.”
USC will get a better sense of its CFP hopes when the second-to-last ranking is released Tuesday night (7 p.m., ESPN). South Carolina will likely be jockeying with a number of two- and three-loss power conference teams for an at-large bid.
Swinney emphasized that South Carolina can “play with anybody” in the country and, if Clemson happens to the ACC championship along with USC qualifying as an at-large team, he’d welcome a playoff Palmetto Bowl rematch.
“Let’s do it,” Swinney said. “Let’s go. I’m great with that — any round. Let’s do the natty in Atlanta. How good would that be?”
“An all-South Carolina national championship. Man, it could happen. Why not?”
Dabo: ‘We control our own destiny’
Under the 12-team College Football Playoff format, the selection committee rewards the top five highest ranked conference champions with automatic bids to the field and the top four highest ranked conference champs with first-round byes.
The system does not explicitly say those nods will go to power conference champions. So, although it’s very unlikely, it’s not 100% impossible for Clemson to win the ACC and still be left out of the field.
Posed with that scenario, Swinney wouldn’t hear it.
“What are you drinking?” he said, laughing. “That ain’t possible.”
Clemson’s coach emphasized on multiple occasions Tuesday that, for the first time since before losing to Louisville, his Tigers control their own destiny for the postseason. Saturday’s ACC championship vs. SMU (11-1, 8-0 ACC) is for all the marbles. The Mustangs are currently favored by 2.5 points.
“We win, we’re in,” Swinney said.
He added of SMU: “I think they should be in no matter what.”
The only scenario in which one of the four power conference champions didn’t get one of the four automatic bids essentially disintegrated last weekend when No. 17 Tulane, which competes in the American Athletic, lost at home to Memphis.
Tulane will drop in Tuesday’s updated CFP rankings to the point where the winner of the AAC championship game (Tulane or Army) will make very little noise for a 12-team field that should include one already-strong Group of Five champ.
No. 11 Boise State and No. 22 UNLV both won on Saturday to set up a highly anticipated Mountain West conference title game that feels like a CFP play-in.
In other words: The five conference champion automatic bids are expected to go to the winners of the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, ACC and Mountain West.
“We’re just thankful to have a shot now,” Swinney said. “Certainly, we’ve gotta win to have a shot. I mean, we have to win, because that’s what we’ve earned to this point.”
What about if Clemson doesn’t get a first-round bye?
The winners of the SEC and Big Ten title games are obvious locks, but the CFP committee will likely be in a position where it’s comparing the résumés of ACC champion Clemson against the Big 12 champion (Arizona State or Iowa State) and MWC champion (Boise State or UNLV) for the last two first-round byes.
All three of those teams would get in, but only two would get byes.
If Boise State (currently No. 11) wins its conference title game, Clemson could find itself getting an automatic bid — but hosting a first-round CFP game on Dec. 20 or 21, rather than advancing to a quarterfinal game.
Swinney said if Clemson wins, he’d be fine with anything.
“So what?” he said. “Who cares? Let’s go. Hey, sign me up.”
Next Clemson game: ACC championship
Who: Clemson (9-3) vs. SMU (11-1)
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte
TV: ABC
Betting line: SMU by 2.5 points
This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 12:47 PM.
