Following Week 3 of the college football season, ESPN senior writer Heather Dinich gave her College Football Playoff takeaways.
In her article (subscription required), Dinich opined that “Clemson might be in the worst shape of any Power 5 contender.”
“Clemson has to play better, it needs the rest of the ACC to show a pulse, and it better hope another Power 5 contender stumbles along the way,” Dinich wrote.
Dinich believes that Ohio State, despite its loss to Oregon, is in a better spot than the Tigers right now because the Buckeyes will have games against ranked opponents to help make up for the loss, while the same can’t be said for Clemson.
“Clemson has nothing — nada — left on its regular-season schedule that would impress the selection committee, and with Virginia Tech, Miami and Pitt losing on Saturday (to Western Michigan!), the Tigers might not even face a ranked opponent in the ACC title game,” Dinich wrote. “The saving grace was North Carolina’s 45-31 win against Virginia to stay ranked.”
Dinich feels Clemson, even as a one-loss ACC champion, would probably still be on the wrong side of a resume comparison between Oregon, Oklahoma, Ohio State and the SEC, as well as lose a head-to-head tiebreaker to Georgia, if it were to boil down to a debate between the ACC champion or a UGA team that loses to Alabama in the SEC championship game.
“With three of the ACC’s four top-25 teams losing on Saturday, Clemson is in a familiar position as the league’s best hope at a top-four finish, but it has to start looking the part,” Dinich wrote.
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