Swinney: ‘We will Take Whatever we can get’
By: Will Vandervort November 28, 2024

CLEMSON — The Clemson Football team could find itself in an interesting dilemma come Saturday evening.

If the Tigers (9-2) knock off rival South Carolina on Saturday, it could earn itself an at-large bid into the College Football Playoffs. However, Clemson is currently ranked No. 12 in the CFP rankings and is currently the last team out. So, there are no guarantees they will get into the CFP to begin with.

However, there is a good chance they could get in with an at-large bid. But by eight o’clock Saturday night, they could find themselves in the ACC Championship Game, if Syracuse stuns the college football world and upsets No. 6 Miami in Dome.

That’s where Clemson’s dilemma comes in. Do the Tigers want to avoid the ACC Championship Game, which means missing the opportunity to win the league title and earn an automatic playoff spot and a first-round bye or make the playoff as an at-large team and try their luck at winning a first round game and keep playing?

“My preference will be to win the ACC and get a bye to the second round. That would be my preference,” Swinney said. “But sign me up for whatever happens if we can find a way in there.

“But yeah, if I had a perfect world, I would love to win the league, get a bye into the second round and all of that stuff.”

With all the injuries piling up for Clemson, the Tigers could seriously use a break. On Wednesday, Swinney confirmed that reserve offensive lineman Trent Howard tore his ACL and is out for the remainder of the season.

Howard is the sixth offensive line out for the year with a season-ending injury. Clemson has already lost Dietrick Pennington (knee), Watson Young (knee), Ian Reed (knee), Collin Sadler (calf) and Elyjah Thurmon (foot).

“(A bye) would be ideal to me, and get a little bit of a break,” Swinney said. “It’s what we talk about. It is this time of the year, and it is just not us, everybody is dealing with some injuries and things like that, so we will take whatever we can get and we will be ready.”

Clemson hosts No. 15 South Carolina at Memorial Stadium on Saturday (noon, ESPN).