Dabo Swinney is not a fan of the proposal to expand the College Football Playoff beyond four teams. Whether it’s expanding to eight teams or 12, the Clemson Tigers head coach doesn’t like the idea, and in 2018, he even said he’d rather see the field shrink over expanding.
Well, after No. 9 Clemson’s 27-21 upset loss to N.C. State on Saturday, he might want to rethink his position, and college football fans had plenty of jokes about that.
The Tigers haven’t played this year the way fans have come to expect them to, particularly on offense. Against the Wolfpack, they finished with just 214 total yards and went 2-for-11 on third-down attempts before losing in double overtime.
NC State takes the lead on No. 9 Clemson 😮 pic.twitter.com/yr8Hi21gdt
— ESPN (@espn) September 25, 2021
The ACC matchup was tied at seven at halftime and again tied at 14 at the end of regulation. Both teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime, and to start the second overtime, N.C. State scored an incredible touchdown when quarterback Devin Leary connected with wide receiver Devin Carter for a 22-yard score but failed to convert the mandatory two-point conversion attempt. It looked like those missed two points might cost the Wolfpack the game, but Clemson couldn’t get a first down in the second overtime and ultimately lost.
And this was Clemson’s second loss of the season so far after it dropped its opener 10-3 to Georgia. The last time it lost two games before the end of September was back in 2014, and N.C. State also snapped Clemson’s 36-game win streak against unranked teams, as ESPN’s broadcast noted.
Going into this Week 4 game, the Tigers’ College Football Playoff chances were already teetering with their loss to Georgia and struggles putting away Georgia Tech last weekend. And now, it’s fair to say Clemson’s playoff hopes in the current four-team format are all but shattered.
The playoff has never had a two-loss team participate, and nothing about Swinney’s squad this year suggests it’ll be the first team do so. Assuming Clemson doesn’t make it, the playoff will be without the Tigers for the first time since its inaugural season in 2014-15.
So between Clemson’s now-exceptionally dim playoff hopes, Swinney’s previous comments about playoff expansion and fans’ general excitement about the Tigers losing, college football Twitter had a lot of jokes roasting the head coach. (And a couple people even dragged Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi into the roast too.)
[mm-video type=video id=01fg7g772ncne78hedmr playlist_id=none player_id=01evcfkb10bw5a3nky image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fg7g772ncne78hedmr/01fg7g772ncne78hedmr-09d3dcfca88f119c7cd069d3f73201c6.jpg]