On SportsCenter, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, Heather Dinich and Roddy Jones weighed in on Saturday’s ACC Championship Game between Clemson (9-3) and SMU (11-1), what it means for the College Football Playoff.
Of course, the Tigers got a shot to play for the ACC title thanks to Syracuse’s upset win over Miami this past Saturday – and if Clemson wins the conference championship, it will earn an automatic spot in the playoff field under the new 12-team format.
“I think Clemson really was given a gift… I realize Clemson, thanks to the Syracuse win, has a path into the playoff, and they may very well get it,” Finebaum said.
The five highest-ranked conference champions receive an automatic bid to the playoff, with the four highest-ranked champions earning a first-round bye.
Ahead of this weekend’s conference title games, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee’s latest set of CFP Top 25 rankings will be unveiled on Tuesday night (7-7:30 p.m., ESPN). It marks the fifth of six weekly playoff rankings release shows before the sixth and final reveal on Selection Day (Sunday, Dec. 8).
Clemson was ranked No. 12 in the latest playoff rankings before its 17-14 loss to No. 15 South Carolina this past Saturday at Death Valley, while SMU was ranked ninth in the latest CFP rankings before its 38-6 home victory over Cal.
Dinich, ESPN’s foremost College Football Playoff insider, was asked how the outcome of the ACC Championship Game will impact the potential playoff picture.
“Well this could be significant,” Dinich said. “So on Tuesday night, pay attention to where Clemson is ranked relative to the Big 12’s best teams – Arizona State, Iowa State. Because if Clemson wins the ACC, is there a chance that they could lose that first-round bye as one of the four highest-ranked conference champions if your ACC winner is all the way down the Selection Committee’s top 25 after that loss to South Carolina? So, that’s one thing to pay attention to.
“But if Clemson does win, the other question would be how far does SMU drop? Can (the ACC) get two teams in the College Football Playoff at that point? Because if SMU wins, then they really need Miami to be ranked because you know Clemson is not getting in as the ACC runner-up.”
The Big 12 teams mentioned by Dinich, Arizona State and Iowa State, were ranked No. 16 and No. 18 in the latest playoff rankings, respectively. The pair of 10-2 teams will play for the Big 12 Championship on Saturday.
“I do have a question on where Clemson’s going to be just like Heather, because you start to wonder, if Clemson’s close enough, could they then potentially jump an Arizona State if Arizona State ends up ahead of them and in the Big 12 Championship Game and wins that,” Jones said. “Do they value a win over a top-10 SMU team that’s been fairly underrated through the course of this season more than whatever Arizona State would face? And also, Boise State as well comes into this. How far away are they from the Broncos?”
Boise State (11-1) was ranked right ahead of Clemson at No. 11 in the latest playoff rankings and could earn a first-round bye with a win over UNLV (10-2; No. 22 in latest playoff rankings) in the Mountain West Championship on Friday.
SMU is a 2.5-point favorite in the ACC title game, which is set to kick off at 8 p.m. at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte and will be televised on ABC.