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Clemson's College Football Playoff Chances Revealed After Loss to South Carolina

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jonathan Adams | Last updated Nov 30, 2024 10:58 PM ET

The Clemson Tigers' chances to make the College Football Playoff were looking slim after the team's loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks. Dabo Swinney's squad has three losses which were looking likely to disqualify the Tigers from playoff contention.

That is until the Syracuse Orange upset the Miami Hurricanes. Now, Cam Ward and the Canes will be watching the ACC championship from home.

Thanks to Syracuse's victory against Miami, Clemson will now square off against the SMU Mustangs in the ACC title game. Clemson's playoff chances just became abundantly clear after Miami's loss.

The Tigers need a win against SMU to punch their ticket to the College Football Playoff. Either SMU or Clemson will automatically qualify for the postseason by winning the ACC.

If Clemson loses to SMU, it is hard to imagine a four-loss Tigers team being among the top-12 ranked teams who make the postseason. Clemson would then need to qualify as an at-large team instead of automatically making the postseason as an ACC champion. Prior to the team's loss to South Carolina, Clemson was ranked No. 12 in the College Football Playoff rankings.

SMU vs. Clemson for the ACC title…and more importantly, a guaranteed spot in the College Football Playoff pic.twitter.com/8CxSCje0QS
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) December 1, 2024

SMU, whose only loss of the regular season came against the BYU Cougars, opens as a 1.5-point favorite versus Clemson in the Dec. 7 ACC title game, per FanDuel. It will mark the first meeting between the two teams since SMU joined the ACC.

We’re looking at the possibility of South Carolina beating Clemson, Clemson winning the ACC and getting in the Playoff and South Carolina getting left out. Bonkers.
— Kelly Gramlich (@kellygramlich) December 1, 2024