By Ed McGranahan.

By Ed McGranahan

Clemson looks like that hot model with makeup smudged one week, having a bad hair day another.

Sleek and sexy, it quickly passes the eyeball test. The question is whether Clemson can stand out in a crowd of beauties.

At this point it seems relatively safe to assume that barring a Maryland upset of Florida State, Clemson will return to the Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve. Maybe not as exotic as New Orleans or Phoenix, but it beats anywhere in Florida after Christmas and the folks in Atlanta are in the mix to host one of the semifinal games when the BCS goes to the four-team tournament in two years so their bowl is growing in prestige.

Clemson fans want to hear about the team’s chances for a BCS at-large invitation. Implausible as it seems for a team that’s beaten only one school with a winning record from the ACC, it’s not impossible. Also remember that only four ACC teams have qualified for bowl games. Has any team ever played in two bowl games in the same season?

Alabama’s loss to Texas A&M won’t derail the Tide’s trip to another SEC title, nor will it have any effect on Clemson, which could see a boost in the polls this week with Louisville and Oregon State falling. Alabama-Clemson in the Sugar Bowl would have legs.

Beating a Maryland team without a healthy quarterback on its roster may leave Clemson spinning its BCS tires. The pollsters have consciences. The computer rankings are the products of number crunchers with inherent biases, spelled SEC or Pac 12.

The players and coaches at Clemson try to remain above it all publicly, but there are clues that they pay very close attention to the ebb and flow. Quarterback Tajh Boyd said he and several of his teammates watched the Virginia Tech-Florida State game “as fans” Thursday night. Had Virginia Tech won, Clemson would again play for the conference championship.

Boyd said Saturday that while they understand the table is groaning with possibilities, there’s no sense in obsessing about it. Clemson must, first, beat NC State next week then try to end the nightmare that has been South Carolina the last three seasons and put the finishing touches on an 11-1 season.

Remember the last time a Clemson team won 11 games in a regular season? Does 1981 come to mind?

“There’s always room for improvement,” Boyd said after Clemson’s 12th straight win in Death Valley.

Boyd has passes for 13 touchdowns and 1,033 yards in three games, but Clemson has also committed seven turnovers after only eight the first eight games.

“I know we keep saying that, but it drives you. Not too many people stop us, but as you can see we stop ourselves sometimes,” Boyd said.

In Dabo Swinney’s church, November is when the tithes are due.

“I’ve told my players now is the time when top 10 teams separate themselves from the pack,” Swinney said, reminding them that at this same point of the season a year ago they lost the final two games on the schedule.

All that’s required of Clemson from here on out is to check its makeup and run a comb through its hair. It’s about getting victories and looking good in doing it.

“For us, all we can do is to continue working, continue winning,” Boyd said.