No. 1 Clemson topped a tough No. 10 North Carolina team for the ACC Championship, 45-37, but a league title is just another step on the path to a national crown. By virtue of their pristine record and likely spot at the top of the College Football Playoff rankings, the Tigers will get to chase that dream in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Eve, opponent to be determined.
Clemson’s 13-0 and punched its College Football Playoff ticket. What’s next?
This is already the highest number of games the Tigers have ever won in a season. Two more would mean a national championship.
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The 13-0 Tigers will make their first appearance in the College Football Playoff, having missed the inaugural event and settling for a trip to the Citrus Bowl in 2014. The team will be looking for to prove again that “Clemsoning” has a whole new meaning.
Led by Heisman candidate quarterback Deshaun Watson, Clemson has averaged more than 500 yards per game. Watson has scored multiple touchdown in all but one game this season. The offense hasn’t scored fewer than 20 points this year, and have all the talent to continue that streak against just about anybody.
The Tigers had a lot of holes to fill at the beginning of the season, losing eight starters from 2014’s No. 1 defense. But defensive coordinator Brent Venables, who might be the country’s best, has his side of the ball ranked No. 6 in S&P+ anyway.
And now head coach Dabo Swinney can dance.
How’d they get here?
Well, by not losing, for one. Clemson’s 13-0 start exceeds the 12-0 start that won the program a national title back in 1981. The Tigers handled six different bowl-eligible teams to get to this point and have maintained their No. 1 rank since Week 9.
Some of the key reasons the Tigers are still undefeated:
- Clemson 24, Notre Dame 22. The Fighting Irish trailed by eight points when Torii Hunter Jr. caught a one-yard touchdown pass with seven seconds left, but Clemson absolutely blew up the ensuing two-point conversion to hang on to a huge early-season victory in Death Valley.
- Clemson 58, Miami 0. See ya, Al Golden.
- Clemson 23, Florida State 13. The Seminoles almost bested the Tigers, but a successful and powerful fourth quarter drive changed the momentum and gave Clemson the win. It was the drive that put the team up by a field goal on the Noles that showed just how exhausting the Tigers offense can be.
- Clemson 45, North Carolina 37. The Tigers controlled most of the game, but a late botched call by referees prevented a Tar Heel comeback effort.
Our Clemson blog
What happens now?
Final pairings will be announced Sunday at noon ET.
Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma and Iowa Michigan State are in. We don’t know the order, but we know it’ll be something like that order. The Big Ten champ could jump ahead of OU in the final Playoff rankings, by virtue of playing an extra game and recording a top-five win while the Sooners stayed at home, but that’s about the only foreseeable shift.
That means the Tigers will almost certainly host either Oklahoma or Iowa Michigan State at the Orange Bowl. Bama will get the higher-ranked of the two in the Cotton Bowl.
It’s conceivable the committee could jump Bama ahead of Clemson to No. 1, as chairman Jeff Long has suggested multiple times has been debated. Clemson beat a higher-ranked team on Saturday, but the Tide’s win was quite dominant until the very end. Either way, Clemson’s going to the Orange Bowl semifinal next.
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