With five straight wins, the Clemson Tigers have climbed into the Top 10 of both the US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 poll after Week 7. The Tigers have also risen or held firm in updated College Football Playoff projection models at the halfway point of the season.
Clemson (5-1) moved up two spots to No. 9 in this week’s Coaches Poll following Week 7’s 49-14 victory over Wake Forest on Saturday in Winston-Salem. The Tigers stayed at No. 10 in the AP poll.
Dabo Swinney’s team rose one spot to No. 8 in Heather Dinich’s top 12 team projections ($) for ESPN. Clemson also stayed at No. 8 in ESPN’s weekly Power Rankings with Andrea Adelson noting:
“The Tigers rolled through another opponent this past weekend, beating Wake Forest 49-14, the fourth time they scored 40 or more points this season. The offense has found a nice balance with Cade Klubnik (No. 5 in the nation in total QBR) and Phil Mafah (6.9 yards per rush), and the defense has held its past three opponents to two touchdowns or less.
“Suddenly, Clemson looks like a favorite to make it back to the ACC championship game. There are some obstacles ahead — including Louisville and back-to-back road trips at Virginia Tech and Pitt. But if Clemson keeps playing consistently, the Tigers will control their destiny.”
At On3, veteran college football guru Andy Staples kept Clemson as his pick to win the ACC, as well as the No. 3 seed in his 12-team playoff projections — the third week in a row that Staples has favored the Tigers over the Miami Hurricanes in the ACC race.
Staples sees Penn State (projected No. 6) and Texas A&M (No. 11) meeting in the first round as at-large teams with the winner advancing to play Clemson in the Peach Bowl.
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Over at 247Sports, Brad Crawford is imagining Clemson vs. Alabama Round V in the playoff. Crawford sees the Crimson Tide and Tigers meeting in the Peach Bowl — after Clemson wins the ACC to secure an automatic playoff berth and Alabama, as a No. 11 seed, defeats Miami in a first-round game at Hard Rock Stadium.
Crawford isn’t the only analyst who’s picturing a Clemson-Alabama matchup in the playoffs. In his new playoff projections ($) for The Athletic, Stewart Mandel has the Tigers hosting the Crimson Tide in Death Valley in a first-round, No. 8 vs. No. 9 seed game.
Over at CBS Sports, Clemson stayed a projected No. 10 seed in analyst Jerry Palm’s updated playoff projections. Palm still sees the Tigers facing the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium in Athens in a first-round, No. 10 vs. No. 7 seed matchup.
With the exception of Staples, the Texas Longhorns were the projected No. 1 overall seed in all of these playoff predictions.
Next Up
Clemson hosts the Virginia Cavaliers in a noon ET kickoff Saturday in Death Valley. The game will be televised on ACC Network.
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