Where’s Clemson going in College Football Playoff? Here are the final predictions
Will Clemson get a first-round bye into the College Football Playoff?
Or will the Tigers be playing an on-campus road game in two weeks?
That’s the looming question surrounding Clemson football’s College Football Playoff seeding after the coach Dabo Swinney and the Tigers punched their ticket into the inaugural 12-team field with a 34-31 win over SMU in Saturday’s ACC championship.
Clemson (10-3) doesn’t have to worry about missing the playoff. After beating No. 8 SMU in a thriller, the No. 17 Tigers will rise in the rankings and pop up one of the five highest ranked conference champions on Selection Sunday (12 p.m., ESPN).
Under the 12-team format, those five teams will get automatic bids.
But only four of those five teams will receive a coveted first-round bye into the quarterfinals – and the odd team out, based on current rankings, will likely start its CFP journey on the road as a No. 11 or No. 12 seed in two weeks.
Here’s where things currently stand for Clemson entering Sunday:
No. 1 Oregon beat No. 4 Penn State in the Big Ten championship, and No. 5 Georgia beat No. 2 Texas in the SEC championship. The Ducks (13-0) and the Bulldogs (11-2) are safe locks for first-round byes as the top two overall seeds in the field.
That leaves two more first-round byes, with three more conference champions under consideration: No. 10 Boise State, No. 15 Arizona State and No. 17 Clemson.
The Broncos finished 12-1 after beating No. 20 UNLV in Friday’s Mountain West conference championship game; the Sun Devils finished 11-2 after beating No. 16 Iowa State in the Big 12 title game; and No. 17 Clemson moved to 10-3 after beating SMU in the ACC championship game at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.
Naturally, all three teams and their conferences have framed their champions as “bye-worthy,” as the ACC put it in a post on their X (formerly Twitter) account pumping up the Tigers after their win. But who’s actually on pace to land them?
Here’s what the latest projections say.
Latest CFP projections for Clemson
ESPN’s Heather Dinich has the Tigers missing out on a first-round bye and playing at No. 5 Penn State in the first round of the CFP as a No. 12 seed on Dec. 20 or 21.
Even though Clemson has a head-to-head win over SMU, Dinich’s ESPN predictions keeps the Mustangs in the field, seeded one spot ahead of Clemson at No. 11.
In ESPN’s prediction, Boise State gets the No. 3 overall seed and Arizona State the No. 4. The winner of the Clemson-Penn State game would advance to play the Sun Devils in the Fiesta Bowl quarterfinal in Glendale, Arizona, on Dec. 31.
The Athletic’s final projections also have Clemson missing out on a first-round bye. That website has the Tigers as the No. 11 seed playing a first-round game at No. 6 Texas, the SEC runner-up. The winner of that game would play No. 3 Boise State.
CBS Sports has the same matchup with a different seeding: No. 12 Clemson playing at No. 5 Texas in the first round, with the winner facing No. 4 Arizona State.
Yahoo Sports predicts Clemson as the No. 11 seed playing at No. 6 Penn State, and Bleacher Report is going with the same matchup: The Tigers vs. the Nittany Lions.
One of the only major sites that does have Clemson securing a first-round bye? FOX Sports, which gives the Tigers the No. 4 seed in its projected bracket. Clemson would face the winner of the No. 5 Notre Dame/No. 12 Alabama game in a quarterfinal.
“We’re a dangerous team,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said postgame. “We’ve not played our best football yet but yet we’re in the playoff. I think that’s frustrating but it’s also exciting because we are capable. I just wish I could get us to put this thing all together for four quarters because if we do, we’ll have a real shot.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
