Clemson's final Playoff ranking, semifinal matchup set

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Sun Dec 20 12:27:13 GMT-04:00 2020

There’s a healthy dose of familiarity to Clemson’s Playoff path in a year that’s been anything but usual.

The No. 2 Tigers (10-1), who are coming off of a sixth-straight ACC title, were matched up with No. 3 Ohio State in a Jan. 1 Playoff semifinal in the Sugar Bowl in a surprise for an 8 p.m. broadcast start (ESPN), with the winner facing the victor of the new Dallas semifinal between No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Notre Dame (4 p.m./ESPN).

The other original semifinal destination was the Rose Bowl before local regulations restricted fan attendance to affect their hosting. The CFP committee opted to give Alabama that location with 16,000 fans allowed to attend, versus the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans with just 3,000, Iowa AD and committee chair Gary Barta told ESPN.

It’s a third Playoff semifinal meeting total and a second season in a row facing the Big Ten champion Buckeyes (6-0), which started their season on Oct. 24 compared to Clemson’s Sept. 12 start date. Ohio State had three game cancellations that left it short of an 8-game regular-season goal and its conference had to make a late rule change to allow them to play for a league title against No. 14 Northwestern, which they pulled away late to a 22-10 win in Indianapolis Saturday.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney had been a critic of the Buckeyes' Playoff case this season.

"Not surprised because that's what the committee has demonstrated over the past few weeks," Swinney said to ESPN of Ohio State's seeding despite a lack of games. "That's a decision that the committee made. Hey, congratulations to those guys. We all know Ohio State is an incredibly talented team. We look forward to a great matchup. We had a heck of a game last year with them and don't doubt it will be anything different this year.

"It will be a great, competitive game and both teams fighting. Will probably come down to a few plays. We'll be looking forward to it back in New Orleans."

An early line for the game is Clemson a 6.5-point favorite over the Buckeyes.

Last year’s game was one of the classics of the Playoff era, where Clemson rallied from down 16 points to a 29-23 win with a big effort from 2020 ACC Championship MVP Trevor Lawrence, who totaled 367 yards and three TDs.

This is a sixth-straight Playoff appearance for Swinney’s Tigers. Clemson has advanced to the National Championship, which is being held in Miami Gardens on Jan. 11 this year, four of the five so far.

The Tigers punched their Playoff ticket with a dominating revenge bout with the Fighting Irish Saturday in Charlotte, rolling 34-10 after dropping the first matchup 47-40 in double overtime on Nov. 7 in South Bend, Indiana.

Clemson is 4-0 all-time against Ohio State.

According to the SP+ metric, Alabama leads the way efficiency-wise (33), followed by Clemson (30), Ohio State (28.1) and surprisingly Florida (25), with Notre Dame ninth (19.6) and Texas A&M 12th (17.1)

ESPN's FPI has Alabama No. 1 (35.3) and Ohio State No. 2 (28.9), with Clemson right behind (28.7) and Georgia next (22.8). Notre Dame is sixth there (19.7) and Texas A&M ninth (18).

Playoff Top 25 - 12/20

1. Alabama

2. Clemson

3. Ohio State

4. Notre Dame

5. Texas A&M

6. Oklahoma

7. Florida

8. Cincinnati

9. Georgia

10. Iowa State

11. Indiana