Can Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers pull off the biggest upset of the first round of the College Football Playoffs when they take on Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Longhorns?
We’ll find out in a few hours when the teams kick off at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (‘DKR’) in Austin. The game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. ET kick and will be televised on TNT.
In the meantime, ESPN’s “College GameDay” was live outside Ohio Stadium ahead of tonight’s playoff game between the No. 9 seed Tennessee Volunteers and the No. 8 seed Ohio State Buckeyes.
When it came to Clemson vs. Texas, the crew of Lee Corso, Nick Saban, Pat McAfee, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and celebrity guest picker A.J. Hawk all picked the Longhorns to win.
Saban said:
“I’ve got a lot of faith in Sark fixing his issues in the red zone. I’m Texas all the way.”
Corso went as far as to pick Texas to win the national championship outright while Herbstreit said:
“Clemson, they rely on big plays. They happen to be going up against one of the best defenses in the country that prevents those big plays. I just don’t see Clemson sustaining drives. I think Texas not only wins; I think they cover.”
As Swinney said after Clemson stunned SMU in the ACC Championship Game: “We’ve got a chance and I think Lloyd Christmas said it best: ‘So you’re saying there’s a chance?!”
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