Date, Time Announced for Clemson at Texas CFP Game
By: Will Vandervort December 8, 2024

CLEMSON — Clemson will play at Texas in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

The Tigers, who are the No. 12 seed, earned their way to Austin, Texas thanks Nolan Hauser’s 56-yard game-winning field goal in the ACC Championship Game, as the Tigers knocked off SMU, 34-31, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

Clemson (10-3) and Texas, the No. 5 seed, will play at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21. The winner will advance and play No. 4 seed Arizona State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on Jan. 1.

This year marks the seventh time Clemson has made the CFP, second only to Alabama’s eight. The Tigers are 6-4 all-time in CFP games and have won two national championships in the playoff era.

This is the first year the CFP is a 12-team field, the previous 10 years it was a four-team field.

For Texas (11-2) this is their second-ever trip to the CFP.

Saturday night, Clemson earned its 22nd all-time ACC Championship and its 28th overall conference championship in school history. Clemson has now won eight of the last 10 ACC titles and has won each of its last nine ACC Championship Game appearances dating to 2011.

The game will mark the first ever meeting between the Tigers and the Longhorns. Texas (959) and Clemson (808) have combined for 1,767 all-time victories, and both rank among the Top 13 in FBS history in victories. Clemson is 7-6 all-time in games played in the state of Texas but has won each of its last two contests in the Lone Star State, including a 28-26 win at Texas A&M and a 30-3 win against Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl, both in 2018.

The CFP berth extends Clemson’s school-record bowl streak to 20 years, the longest streak in the ACC and the fourth-longest streak in the country. Clemson’s 20-year streak dates to its Champs Sports Bowl win against Colorado to close the 2005 season. Though Clemson did not make a bowl appearance in 2004, Clemson has now been bowl eligible in 26 consecutive seasons, dating to a 1999 appearance in the Peach Bowl.

Clemson is 12-8 in bowl games under Head Coach Dabo Swinney, including a 6-4 mark in College Football Playoff play. Swinney’s 12 bowl wins are an ACC record, and his six College Football Playoff victories are the most of any active coach.