Clemson's updated College Football Playoff ranking released |
There are two College Football Playoff rankings left and two weekends of games to go for Clemson to find its way back to the top-4.
The Tigers checked in at No. 8 Tuesday night -- moving up one spot -- in the latest installment of the rankings. According to ESPN, no team has been ranked lower than seventh at this point in the CFP rankings and still made the final four, but there is at least one metric on the Tigers’ side. FiveThirtyEight’s odds give Clemson the fourth-best Playoff shot (52%), up one spot and 8% this week, ahead of Michigan (46%), USC (32%) and LSU (22%). Unbeatens Georgia (86%), Ohio State (72%) and TCU (58%) lead that model. If the ACC Tigers win out, FiveThirtyEight gives them an 80% chance of making the Playoff without other results factored in. Ahead of the Tigers, two teams are guaranteed to have at least one more loss with a battle of unbeatens with No. 3 Michigan heading to No. 2 Ohio State Saturday and then next week No. 1 Georgia taking on No. 5 LSU in Atlanta’s SEC Championship Game. ESPN debated Tuesday night whether the Big Ten could get both Michigan and Ohio State into the Playoff and panelist Joey Galloway sees just one scenario there. "If it's Ohio State (losing to Michigan), because they have the win over Notre Dame earlier in the season," Galloway said. "Michigan, which we have discussed, because they didn't play anybody before Big Ten play -- it's a more difficult discussion to have to include Michigan...I don't know that (Ohio State) would get in above an ACC champion Clemson, especially if Clemson goes out and makes the kind of statement we're talking about but that is the discussion. I think that is the only way you have that discussion if Ohio State is that team that doesn't win this weekend." ESPN's Greg McElroy took that idea a step further. "Let's pretend the Wolverines win for back-to-back years for the first time in over 20 years but Ohio State loses close at home -- Ohio State still has two better wins against Penn State at 11 and Notre Dame at 15 than anything now on Clemson's resume," McElroy said. "Conference championship notwithstanding, now Ohio State would have a more impressive resume than being an ACC conference champion. I actually think if Michigan wins -- the door for Ohio State is very much wide, but if Ohio State wins, because of Michigan's non-conference (schedule), it's actually tougher for Michigan as a one-loss team having lost to Ohio State." The ESPN FPI Playoff model gives the Tigers the fifth-best chance (36.6%), trailing Georgia (97.5%), Ohio State (93.6%), Michigan (75%) and TCU (52.6%) but again ahead of Southern Cal (14.4%) and LSU (7.1%). Two-loss Alabama (13.4%) and Tennessee (7.9%) are ahead of LSU there. LSU and Alabama (No. 7) are two, two-loss teams currently ranked ahead of Clemson. CFP committee chair Boo Corrigan compared Clemson and Alabama on ESPN's rankings reveal show. "You're looking at the football judgment as we're going through this. Clemson is 6-1 against teams that were .500 (or better)," the NC State athletic director Corrigan said. "Alabama is 6-2 with teams over .500 and they've got the two close losses and that (loss) against Notre Dame (for Clemson) -- that 35-14 game continues to be a part of the discussion. You look at Clemson -- defensively they've got some dudes upfront that are making plays and doing things. Overall we saw Alabama as (No.) 7 and Clemson as (No. 8)." Per ESPN, the Tigers are No. 6 in Strength of Record (SOR) and No. 56 strength of schedule (SOS) with a 27th-best remaining SOS. TCU leads the way in SOR, followed by Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and Alabama. All of that group has a top-60 strength of schedule as well except for Michigan (74). Clemson owns wins over No. 16 Florida State and No. 25 Louisville and is set to face No. 17 North Carolina next week from this week's CFP rankings. "The team that ultimately should be the most frustrated is Clemson," said McElroy. "It's not their fault that North Carolina lost (to Georgia Tech). If you look at the rest of the ACC, they've done what they needed to do. They sit there with one loss -- that one loss is hideous, don't get me wrong, but Oregon also has a hideous as well. And I think Clemson right now, to be in the position that they're in -- they haven't been benefited by the rest of the ACC to prop them up and that hurts to get back within striking distance of those top-4." The Tigers checked in at No. 7 in this week’s Associated Press top-25 and No. 8 in the Coaches Poll CFP Rankings - 11/22 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Michigan 4. TCU 5. LSU 6. USC 7. Alabama 8. Clemson 9. Oregon 10. Tennessee 11. Penn State 12. Kansas State 13. Washington 14. Utah 15. Notre Dame 16. Florida State 17. North Carolina 18. UCLA 19. Tulane 20. Ole Miss 21. Oregon State 22. UCF 23. Texas 24. Cincinnati 25. Louisville 2022-23 Playoff committee Mitch Barnhart (athletics director, University of Kentucky), Tom Burman (athletics director, University of Wyoming), chairman Boo Corrigan (athletics director, North Carolina State University), Rick George (athletics director, University of Colorado), Will Shields (former All-American offensive lineman, University of Nebraska), Gene Taylor (athletics director, Kansas State University), Joe Taylor (Vice President for Athletics and Community Wellness, Virginia Union University), John Urschel (member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ and former All-American offensive lineman, Penn State University), Rod West (group president Entergy Corporation and former linebacker at the University of Notre Dame), Chet Gladchuk (athletics director at the U.S. Naval Academy), Jim Grobe (longtime head coach at Ohio University, Wake Forest and Baylor), Warde Manuel (athletics director at the University of Michigan) and Kelly Whiteside (longtime sportswriter for USA Today, Sports Illustrated and Newsday).
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