Final Clemson bowl projections

Clemson looks likely to go to San Diego's Holiday Bowl.

Brandon Rink · Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer · Sunday, December 03 2023

There is a general agreement on Clemson's bowl destination, although not unanimous.

Reports this week were that Clemson and Southern Cal were the go-to for San Diego's Holiday Bowl, and that looks to be the case if the Playoff committee does indeed put the undefeated-but-Jordan-Travis-less Florida State Seminoles in the Playoff.

That is the call for CBS Sports and The Athletic.

ESPN's bowl predictors have the same Clemson-USC matchup, but they are split on the Playoff decision, with Mark Schlabach saying that the Seminoles will drop to the Orange.

The Action Network and longtime bowl insider Brett McMurphy is the wild card, saying FSU will get shut out of the Playoff and Clemson will get shuffled to Charlotte's Duke's Mayo Bowl versus Kentucky. The site says Clemson would be a 7.5-point favorite over the Wildcats.

247Sports joined McMurphy later on Sunday with the same Mayo Bowl projection.

"In this SEC-ACC matchup inside Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium, there's a strong chance for Kentucky-Clemson and organizers would be thrilled with the Wildcats. This is one of several SEC-tiered games that will be chosen by the conference and ESPN. Kentucky does have the Mayo Bowl high on its preference list submitted to the league office earlier this week," said Brad Crawford.

Something to watch will be if the Reliaquest Bowl (Tampa) goes with SEC-Big Ten or SEC/ACC-Notre Dame, which could shuffle the ACC bowl order.

The bowls will be announced after the College Football Playoff pairings at some point on Sunday afternoon on ESPN.

Full ACC bowl schedule

Bowl Game Game Date Game Time (ET) Network Matchup

Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl Fri., Dec. 22, 2023 6:30 p.m. ESPN TBD

TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl Sat., Dec. 23, 2023 Noon ABC TBD

Military Bowl Wed., Dec. 27, 2023 2:00 p.m. ESPN TBD

Duke's Mayo Bowl Wed., Dec. 27, 2023 5:30 p.m. ESPN TBD

SDCUU Holiday Bowl Wed., Dec. 27, 2023 8:00 p.m. FOX TBD

Wasabi Fenway Bowl Thurs., Dec. 28, 2023 11:00 a.m. ESPN TBD

Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl Thurs., Dec. 28, 2023 2:15 p.m. ESPN TBD

Pop-Tarts Bowl Thurs., Dec. 28, 2023 5:45 p.m. ESPN TBD

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Fri., Dec. 29, 2023 Noon ESPN TBD

Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl Fri., Dec. 29, 2023 2:00 p.m. CBS TBD

Capital One Orange Bowl Sat., Dec. 30, 2023 4:00 p.m. ESPN TBD

Reliaquest Bowl Mon., Jan. 1, 2024 Noon ESPN2 TBD

Basically entire bowl selection process is at a gridlock until we see who gets in b/w FSU, Texas & Bama; & if FSU is out who gets last at-large (Ole Miss or OU) & who gets G5 bid (Liberty or SMU). Stay tuned 🍿🍿
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 3, 2023