ESPN analyst not declaring Clemson's run over

Oct 1, 2021, 11:17 AM

ESPN's Seth Walder went through all the reasons why Clemson's run -- this season -- is not over yet.

"When we look at opponent-adjusted efficiencies, Clemson ranks 16th -- not all that terrible, and notably higher than undefeated Oregon and one-loss Ohio State. There are several reasons for this.

"First, Clemson has played the most difficult schedule in college football so far this season! The Tigers have played (and lost) to the best team in the country in FPI's mind (Georgia) on a neutral field and another top-25 team (NC State) on the road. Second, those losses have been relatively close: Clemson let the Georgia offense score just three points and lost on a pick-six, and it fell to NC State in overtime...

"If Clemson wins out, we're looking at a top-five quality team that is an ACC champion and has accomplished the sixth or seventh most in terms of strength of record. Is that a playoff team?

"It ... could be? The important thing is to put ourselves in the mindset of the world of college football in which Clemson has now won nine straight games and presumably there's been plenty of the typical carnage elsewhere, too. There's only about a 1-in-4 shot that Clemson even wins out, and only in about half of those chances does Clemson look good enough or enough goes wrong elsewhere to put it in. But it is possible. The Tigers aren't out yet."

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/page/weeklyscenario100121/how-clemson-tigers-slight-college-football-playoff-chance-two-losses