Updated Clemson postseason projections

Two postseason spots are being predicted for the Tigers currently.

by TigerNet Staff - Nov 24, 2024, 3:18 PM

With one week to go in the regular season, Clemson is regarded as a contender for a College Football Playoff at-large bid by CBS Sports' Jerry Palm.

Going into a potential Top 15 battle with South Carolina, it's still not likely a win-and-in scenario in a vacuum, but it might not take much to get there.

Clemson, which was ranked No. 12 by the traditional polls on Sunday after an upset-filled Saturday, is still on the outside of Palm's CFP picks, but he has them in the mix.

"I have Alabama as the first team out of the projected College Football Playoff bracket. SMU, the expected ACC runner-up, is projected as the last team in the field, while Clemson is another contender for that spot. I will be very interested to see what the committee does with Alabama in the rankings this week," Palm said.

Alabama was No. 7 and Clemson No. 17 in the last CFP rankings before the Crimson Tide lost 24-3 at Oklahoma on Saturday, and Clemson improved to 9-2 with a 51-14 win over The Citadel.

With Miami predicted to win the ACC and SMU as a runner-up in the CFP field (11 seed), Palm picks Clemson to go to the ACC's next-best option, the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando (Dec. 28/3:30 p.m.), facing Iowa State there for the second time in four seasons.

ESPN's Mark Schlabach also picks a Clemson-Iowa State Pop-Tarts matchup, while colleague Kyle Bonagura predicts a Clemson-Colorado meeting in the Holiday Bowl (Dec. 27/8 p.m. EST). 247Sports is also on the Clemson-Iowa State in Orlando train.

After Saturday's action, The Athletic's CFP projection model bumped Clemson up to a 47% chance to make the playoffs, as the last team left out currently and Tennessee getting the last at-large spot (74% CFP chance for the Vols). ESPN's Playoff Predictor gives the Tigers only the 17th-best shot at making the Playoff, a percentage point above rival South Carolina (24% to 23%). With a win Saturday but no ACC Championship berth (need Miami to be upset at Syracuse Saturday to make it now), that moves to 37%.

The College Football Playoff field will feature 12 teams, with the Top 4 seeds going to the four highest-ranked conference champions for a first-round bye and the remaining spots going to next highest-ranked teams by the CFP committee, with one more conference champion guaranteed a spot in that final eight according to their ranking.

Postseason projections (11/24)

ESPN: Pop-Tarts Bowl v. Iowa State (Schlabach); Holiday Bowl v. Colorado (Bonagura)

CBS: Pop-Tarts Bowl v. Iowa State

247Sports: Pop-Tarts Bowl v. Iowa State

College Football Network: Holiday Bowl v. Washington State