Using ESPN’s Playoff Predictor, Heather Dinich broke down the 32 teams with at least a 10 percent chance to make the 12-team College Football Playoff this season.

ESPN analytics give Clemson a 47.3 percent chance to make the playoff, but just a 2.8 percent chance to win the national championship.

Dinich, ESPN’s lead College Football Playoff insider, says she disagrees with the aforementioned analytic assessment of the Tigers.

“Clemson was overrated heading into the 2024 season. Now it’s underrated,” Dinich wrote. “The Tigers’ offense is loaded, starting with much-improved quarterback Cade Klubnik and a deep receiver corps. Klubnik also has a veteran offensive line to work with, and the defensive line should be one of the best in the country. Clemson has a chance to not only win the ACC, but also return to the top of the sport.”

Clemson is coming off a 10-4 campaign in 2024 during which the Tigers won their eighth ACC Championship in 10 seasons and earned their seventh all-time College Football Playoff berth.

Looking ahead to the upcoming season, Dinich pegged the rivalry showdown at South Carolina on Nov. 29 (12 p.m., ABC or ESPN) as Clemson’s toughest test this year.

“A true road game against a ranked in-state SEC rival tops everything else on the schedule as far as difficulty,” Dinich wrote. “ESPN’s FPI gives Clemson a slim 51.9% chance of winning.”

Dinich also weighed in on how the CFP selection committee will view Clemson, saying the committee will like it if the Tigers go 2-0 against their two SEC opponents in LSU and South Carolina.

“Head-to-head wins are one of several tiebreakers the committee uses, and a season-opening win against LSU and a win at South Carolina to end the regular season would separate Clemson from other elite contenders — including in the SEC,” Dinich wrote. “If by chance one of those teams wins the SEC, there might not be a bigger trump card in the committee meeting room.”

As for what the committee wouldn’t like about Clemson? Zero wins against ranked ACC teams, Dinich says.

“If Clemson doesn’t go 2-0 against the SEC, this could be an issue,” Dinich wrote. “Clemson doesn’t face Miami during the regular season, but SMU and Louisville could be top 25 opponents — and maybe Syracuse or Georgia Tech sneak in. Nobody knows what to expect from the Bill Belichick experiment at North Carolina. If Clemson is going to make a deep run into the playoff, though, or have a chance at a bye, it shouldn’t lose to Louisville again. The Tigers were fortunate to beat SMU in last year’s ACC title game, and they shouldn’t lose to the Mustangs at home this year. If Clemson returns to the ACC championship game and loses to Miami, it can still reach the playoff as an at-large team, but a weak ACC schedule would be glaring in the committee meeting room.”

Miami is the ACC team with the next-best chances to make the playoff (46.3 percent) and win the national title (2.7 percent), according to ESPN analytics.

SMU is way below Clemson and Miami, with only a 21.1 percent chance to make the playoff and 0.5 percent chance to win the national title. Virginia Tech (12.5 percent) is the only other ACC team with at least a 10 percent shot to make the playoff.

South Carolina has a 20.3 percent chance to make the playoff and a 1 percent chance to win the national title, per ESPN analytics.

Clemson’s season-opening opponent, LSU, is given a 30.3 percent chance to make the playoff and a 2.1 percent shot to win the national title.