Clemson is headed to the Orange Bowl, though even a New Year’s Six bowl may feel like a consolation prize for at least part of the Tigers’ fan base.

The Tigers dominated North Carolina to win the ACC championship Saturday a week after falling to rival South Carolina. Had Clemson been able to knock off the Gamecocks, the Tigers would’ve finished as a one-loss Power Five champion and perhaps in the College Football Playoff ahead of Ohio State and Alabama, neither of which played for their respective conference titles.

Instead, Ohio State, ranked a few spots ahead of Clemson heading into the weekend, was the beneficiary of then-No. 4 Southern Cal’s Pac-12 title game loss, moving into the playoff field. Clemson, which also lost to Notre Dame in early November, will play Tennessee in a top-10 Orange Bowl matchup on Dec. 30.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney had a message for anyone who may be disappointed with that.

“It’s really, really hard to be in the Final Four,” Swinney said. “We’re fortunate that we’ve been there a few times and have had some success there, but it’s really had. You don’t control that. Technically you could have the same record as someone else and someone not put you in there. So I think the biggest thing is at 11-2, being your league champion and going to the Orange Bowl, if you’re not happy with that, I really don’t know what to say to you.”

Swinney said he feels like this year’s matchup is one between playoff-caliber teams. Tennessee was the nation’s top-ranked team at one point this season before dropping two of its last four games to finish 10-2 and No. 6 in the final CFP rankings. Clemson came in at No. 7 after moving up a couple of spots following its seventh ACC championship game win in eight seasons.

“Both of these teams, even though we’re not in the Final Four, are teams that, for 12 to 13 weeks, were one of those few teams that had the opportunity,” Swinney said. “We both had opportunities to play our way in there, and we didn’t get that done. But you’ve got to give the opponent credit. That’s football, but both teams had an amazing season. This will be an exciting opportunity to finish our year with a playoff-caliber game. That’s what this is

“Hopefully we’ll have a great crowd. I don’t doubt that we will. And a great environment. Two regional fan bases that I’m sure will back and support each team.”

Dear Old Clemson has added the Tiger Sack Pack to our online store.  Save by getting the Two Pack of signed cards from two of the nation’s top defensive ends, Myles Murphy and Xavier Thomas.

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