The Clemson Tigers, placing fourth in the current College Football Playoff rankings, are 2016’s ACC Atlantic division champions. They assured as much by beating Wake Forest in Winston-Salem on Saturday, 35-13. The Tigers dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, built a 28-0 lead, and cruised to victory.
Clemson officially locks Louisville out of ACC Championship and punches its own ticket
The Tigers beat Wake Forest, and that settles that.
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
With No. 5 Louisville already finished in ACC play at 7-1, Saturday’s game was win-and-in for Clemson. The Tigers matched that record. They advance to the ACC Championship Game in Orlando, because they own a head-to-head tiebreaker on Louisville from a win in October.
Clemson still has one regular season game left to play, against South Carolina in one week. The Tigers should win that game, and if they do, the ACC title game will be a Playoff play-in. If the Gamecocks score an upset, Clemson might still be able to make the field of four, but it’s best that Dabo Swinney’s team doesn’t chance it.
A week ago, Clemson took a shocking, sort of referee-aided home loss against unranked Pitt. The Tigers didn’t fall out of the Playoff top four, of course, but they cut deep into their own margin for error.
Another misstep might be fatal, but the Tigers have put that off for at least another week. And if they don’t lose again, they’re going to win everything there is to win.
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