Clemson rejoins ESPN Playoff 'Bubble Watch' after App domination

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Clemson is in the mix for a Playoff at-large bid, according to ESPN's Heather Dinich.

Dinich recently upgraded the Tigers to the 'First Four Out' in her Playoff bubble watch ($), in the mix with Missouri, Kansas State and Utah.

"The Tigers took a lot of heat after the loss to Georgia, and they took it out on App State 66-20," Dinich said. "While Clemson isn't on par with the SEC's top team, it's certainly good enough to win a watered-down ACC. In fact, ESPN Analytics likes Clemson to win the league over both Louisville and Miami at 27.5%."

She had dropped the Tigers completely out of the watch list after the 34-3 defeat to No. 1 Georgia.

Dinich's conference pick is still Miami, however, and she currently slots the Hurricanes in the automatic-bid No. 3 spot for the 12-team Playoff.

"No. 3 seed Miami Hurricanes: The Canes would earn this seed as the ACC champion. Clemson (and Louisville!) are still very much in the mix, but further separation happened in the ACC on Saturday with both Georgia Tech and NC State losing. ESPN Analytics gives Miami better than a 50% chance to win each of its remaining games except for Oct. 19 at Louisville, where the Cardinals have a 56.7% chance to win. Miami and Clemson don't play during the regular season."

Teams she has Clemson looking to hunt down for the at-large spot include projected No. 9 Penn State, No. 10 Alabama and No. 11 Tennessee. The other byes are picked to be Georgia (1), Ohio State (2) and Oklahoma State (4).

Elsewhere on the site, ESPN's Kyle Bonagura also had Clemson just outside the at-large range and pegged the Tigers for a Pop-Tarts Bowl bid instead, facing Oklahoma State.

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