247Sports' early projected expanded Playoff, select bowls for 2024 |
247Sports did a projection
of the current expanded Playoff (six conference champions, six at-larges) before an expected move to a 5+7 model for this fall (five conference champs, seven at-large bids).
No matter how the expansion works out, Clemson is not the picked ACC champion and not in the predicted Playoff either. Florida State gets that call and the No. 3 seed in a setup where the Top 4 conference champions get the first-round byes in the 12-team field. "Florida State and Oregon in New Orleans would be an excellent, evenly-matched tilt between teams led by transfer portal quarterback(s) and two fast-rising head coaches among the elites," said 247Sports' Brad Crawford of a projected Sugar Bowl matchup in round two. Crawford's call for Clemson is the fourth consecutive Sunshine State bowl destination, with Orlando's Pop-Tarts Bowl, versus new Big 12 member Utah. Ohio State is the projected top seed, followed by Georgia and then Big 12 champ Kansas State rounding out the Top 4. The at-large teams then are then Texas, Oregon, Notre Dame, Michigan, Ole Miss and LSU. Clemson was last in Orlando for the 2021 season, when it was called the Cheez-It Bowl, and a matchup and win over Iowa State (20-13 Tigers). Dabo Swinney's group then played in Miami Gardens' Orange Bowl for 2022 (31-14 Tennessee) and then Jacksonville's Gator Bowl for 2023 (38-35 over Kentucky). Clemson last made the Playoff in the 2020 season as the No. 2 overall seed versus Ohio State, a 49-28 defeat.
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