Entering Week 13 of the 2024 college football season, it can be somewhat hard to project where Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers will spend bowl season in December/January.
On the one hand, Clemson (up to No. 17 in the latest CFP rankings) still has a chance, however slim, to reach the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte on Dec. 7. Doing so would guarantee the Tigers of at least a shot at reaching the College Football Playoff.
And if the Tigers win the ACC title game and get to 11-2 overall, they’d get a first-round bye and play in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta against the winner of the No. 6 vs. No. 11 seed game.
More realistically? The Miami Hurricanes and SMU Mustangs, the two teams on course to get to Charlotte, probably aren’t losing their final regular season games in conference play.
Cam Ward and the Hurricanes close out the year with a home game against Wake Forest this Saturday before hitting the road to play Syracuse, while Rhett Lashlee’s Mustangs have conference games against Virginia and California to close the regular season.
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Heading into Week 13, here’s what national college football writers and others in the sport’s media universe are saying about Clemson’s bowl game projections — and which teams they might face.
Clemson Football’s Latest Bowl Projections
Pop-Tarts Bowl (Orlando, Fla., Dec. 28)
USA TODAY Sports analyst Erick Smith sees the Tigers making a trip to Orlando to play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. The only difference in Smith’s projection from last week is who the Tigers will face. With the BYU Cougars falling 17-13 to the Kansas Jayhawks in Week 12, BYU replaces Iowa State as Smith’s Big 12 representative.
This matchup would be a first, as Clemson and BYU have never met on the football field. The Pop-Tarts Bowl has been known by several names, the longest being the Champs Sports Bowl (2004-11). Some fans will recall its original name — the Blockbuster Bowl (1990-93).
Duke’s Mayo Bowl (Charlotte, N.C., Jan. 3, 2025)
CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm still sees Clemson in a bowl that’s a lot closer to the Upstate: the Duke’s Mayo Bowl at Bank of America Stadium to kick off 2025. Palm has the Tigers facing the Big Ten’s Minnesota Golden Gophers. Minnesota sits at 6-4 and has upset wins over the USC Trojans and Illinois Fighting Illini this season.
The Tigers and Gophers have met once before — in the 1985 Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., a 20-13 Minnesota win.
The Sporting News’ Bill Bender agrees with the Duke’s Mayo Bowl projection and has Clemson in that game against Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes. As with Minnesota, Clemson and Iowa have never met in a head-to-head contest.
Holiday Bowl (San Diego, Calif., Dec. 27)
This has been a pretty common bowl game projection for the Tigers since their stunning 33-21 loss to Louisville on Nov. 2.
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura has Clemson in the Holiday Bowl against Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes. Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter and the Buffaloes still have a path to the College Football Playoff (as do the Tigers, no matter how narrow), so this projection could change for both teams in the coming weeks.
247Sports’ Brad Crawford also forecasts a West Coast trip for Cade Klubnik and the Tigers in a Holiday Bowl matchup against Coach Prime and Colorado. The same goes for The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel and Scott Dochterman (subscription required), who see Clemson taking on the Washington Huskies.
Crawford said of the Tigers:
“Clemson’s comeback win at Pitt kept Clemson alive in the ACC race, but this looks like Miami or SMU’s league to win. Arizona State’s upset of Kansas State means the Sun Devils are streaking and have a chance to really toss a wrench in the Big 12 picture the rest of the way.”
Veteran college football reporter Brett McMurphy also sees Clemson in the Holiday Bowl, only against Arizona State.
ReliaQuest Bowl (Tampa, Fla., Dec. 31)
Sports Illustrated’s Patrick Andres sees Clemson in the Sunshine State on New Year’s Eve in the game formerly known as the Outback Bowl. Andres forecasts Clemson to be playing an SEC team in Tampa: Diego Pavia and the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Interestingly, Clemson and Vanderbilt have met four times previously, but none have been in the past 60-plus years. The two programs last played in 1960, a 22-20 Commodores win in Nashville. Vanderbilt leads the all-time series vs. the Tigers, 3-1.
Clemson has played in this bowl only once before, on New Year’s Day 1991 when it was called the Hall of Fame Bowl. In that game, coach Ken Hatfield’s Tigers blanked Illinois, 30-0, in a nationally televised contest on NBC to finish the season 10-2 overall and No. 9 in the final Coaches Poll.
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