On his Always College Football show, ESPN analyst Greg McElroy gave his conference championship and 12-team College Football Playoff predictions.
As far as Clemson is concerned, McElroy predicts Clemson to beat Miami in the ACC Championship Game and earn the No. 2 seed in the playoff.
Following a first-round bye, McElroy projects Clemson to face Miami again, this time in the CFP quarterfinals, with the second-seeded Tigers taking down the 10th-seeded Hurricanes in that rematch (at the Orange Bowl).
“Clemson beat Miami in the ACC Championship Game in our projections. I think they do it again in this game,” McElroy said. “This is obviously in Miami’s home stadium, so it might be a little bit tricky. Clemson will travel well. I think they match up well against Miami. Cade Klubnik and this outstanding group of wide receivers will be able to throw the ball down the field to create big plays, and I think their pass rush could cause Carson Beck to hold up just a little bit. We know pass rush has had an impact on him in the past, and I think it might again in the future. But this will be a great matchup. I’m taking Clemson to beat Miami there in the Orange Bowl.”
After that, McElroy has the Tigers taking down No. 6 seed Alabama in one of the CFP semifinal matchups.
“Clemson just has so many pieces back from a year ago,” McElroy said. “They have championship game experience. They have so much riding on this game. And Clemson, I think in this scenario with an elite quarterback, elite weapons at wide receiver, just a few more known commodities than Alabama at this point. I’ll take Clemson over Bama there in the semifinal.”
McElroy sees No. 4 Texas beating top-seeded Penn State in the other CFP semifinal matchup, setting up a national championship game between the Longhorns and Tigers.
Of course, that would be a rematch of last season’s CFP first-round game between Clemson and Texas in Austin, and McElroy predicts the Longhorns to beat the Tigers again and win the national championship this season.
“This one is obviously a game that we saw last year in the first round of the College Football Playoff,” McElroy said. “Clemson surprisingly, after a couple losses in the regular season, they beat SMU in the ACC title game, they go to Austin, they give Texas all they want, but it just wasn’t enough. I don’t think it will be enough in this scenario as well. We are taking the Texas Longhorns to win the 2025 national championship game over the Clemson Tigers.
“I’m just way too enamored with some of the star power that this Texas team has. Defensively, they have three guys that can rush the passer, that can take over the game. They have a guy at the second level that can erase any big play. They have great cover guys on the outside. They have improved play over the course of the last few years at safety. I think that should now be a position of strength. I think the offensive line will gel. I’m a believer in Arch Manning. I think he has a chance to have a remarkably great season. I love his personnel on the outside. I think their depth at running back, and Steve Sarkisian’s ability to dial it up when he absolutely has to have a play will propel them over the top.”
You can see McElroy’s full playoff predictions and hear his commentary on those predictions in the following video:
First round byes:
- Penn State (Big Ten champion)
- Clemson (ACC champion)
- Ohio State
- Texas (SEC champion)
First round predictions:
No. 5 Notre Dame over No. 12 Liberty
No. 6 Alabama over No. 11 USC
No. 10 Miami over No. 7 Oregon
No. 8 Georgia over No. 9 Utah
Quarterfinal predictions:
No. 1 Penn State over No. 8 Georgia
No. 2 Clemson over No. 10 Miami
No. 6 Alabama over No. 3 Ohio State
No. 4 Texas over No. 5 Notre Dame
Semifinal predictions:
No. 4 Texas over No. 1 Penn State
No. 2 Clemson over No. 6 Alabama
National championship game prediction:
No. 4 Texas over No. 2 Clemson