Clemson Tigers fans — you got the help you needed last week. And now, despite landing with the No. 17 ranking in the College Football Playoff Rankings, it’s clear what you have to do on your own.
Beat SMU, punch your ticket to the College Football Playoffs.
Clemson’s ACC Championship Odds
Entering Week 15’s Conference Championship weekend, Clemson was given a 46.20% chance to make the College Football Playoffs. That’s because they’re a slight underdog in our rankings to SMU in the ACC Championship Game.
However, in order to make the playoffs, they do control their destiny.
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Unlike some of the other teams sitting around them — Alabama, Miami, South Carolina — the Tigers can win their game against SMU and punch their ticket to the College Football Playoffs as the ACC’s representative.
But Clemson’s playoff road map would have some unexpected consequences for those aforementioned teams around them.
Clemson’s College Football Playoff Road Map
If Clemson were to beat SMU in the ACC Championship Game, it would punch the Tigers’ ticket to the playoffs. That’s a given.
But what happens to SMU in this scenario?
It’s hard to imagine the Mustangs — who would be 11-2 in this scenario — as a non-playoff team given their only two losses would be to a 10-2 BYU team and a 10-3 Clemson team in the title game.
And though that’s hard to imagine, that very well might happen. SMU would then need to earn an at-large playoff bid and would be subject to competing against Alabama, Miami, and Ole Miss for the last spot.
In this scenario, it’s likely SMU that gets booted all the way out, just like it would be Clemson that loses their footing and doesn’t even come close to sniffing an at-large bid with a loss.
But there is a faint portion of the CFN Playoff Predictor that likes the Mustangs to hang tough with Clemson and finish the season with a strong performance in the face of the committee.
And that would boot out Alabama in the process.
Clemson’s road map isn’t tricky, but those consequences may feel so nice to the fans of the ACC.
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