Though the College Football Playoff Committee is high on Clemson, the Tigers’ chances of moving up in the rankings seem slim unless someone loses above them.

Clemson is ranked No. 3 in the latest College Football Playoff Rankings, which were released on Tuesday night, but according to CFP Committee Chairman Rob Mullens, the Tigers’ schedule is keeping them from being considered from the No. 1 spot in the rankings.

Mullens said there was considerable conversation about who deserved to be the No. 1 team this week, but Clemson was not in any of those conversations. Ohio State jumped LSU to take over the top spot after its win over No. 10 Penn State this past week.

LSU had owned the No. 1 ranking the previous two weeks after beating No. 5 Alabama on Nov. 9. Ohio State was the No. 1 team prior to LSU’s win over Bama.

Clemson has won six straight games by 30 or more points, an ACC-record, since the start of October. And a seventh straight victory over rival South Carolina on Saturday by 30 or more points this week would tie 2011 Houston and 1976 Michigan for the longest streak in the AP Poll era (since 1936).

The Tigers (11-0, 8-0 ACC) are already the first team since 1972 to beat four straight opponents by 45 or more points.

“That is certainly a piece of it. When you look at them, they have been dominant,” Mullens said about Clemson during a conference call with the media after the rankings came out. “They are a very balanced team on offense and defense. But the other teams at No. 1 and No. 2 have three wins over highly ranked opponents and that is the separator.”

Though Clemson is the only team in the country to rank in the top 5 in scoring, total offense, scoring defense and total defense, it does not have a win over a top 25 opponent in this week’s rankings.

Virginia Tech, who the Tigers could see in the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 7, did debut at No. 24 in this week’s rankings. However, the Hokies (8-3) have to win at Virginia on Friday to stay in the rankings and advance to the ACC Championship Game to play Clemson.

Virginia has not beaten Virginia Tech since 2003.

For Clemson to earn a win over a top 25, it needs the Hokies to take care of business on Saturday and beat the Cavaliers.

“We don’t project,” Mullens said. “Obviously, there are so many things that can happen. Our job is to focus on the results that we have on the week that we do the rankings.”

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