ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy chimed in on Clemson’s College Football Playoff chances after the Tigers’ latest CFP ranking was unveiled during ESPN’s College Football Playoff: Top 25 show.
Clemson (8-1, 6-0 ACC), which checked in at No. 4 in the initial CFP rankings last week, tumbled to No. 10 in the second rankings after its 35-14 loss at Notre Dame last Saturday night.
The Tigers will conclude the regular season with a three-game homestand against Louisville, Miami and South Carolina, none of which are currently ranked by the CFP committee. After those three games at Death Valley, Dabo Swinney’s team will play in the ACC Championship Game, presumably against North Carolina (No. 15 in the latest CFP rankings).
“I just wonder if there’s enough meat on the bone on Clemson’s remaining schedule to get back into the mix,” McElroy said. “Because even in a loss with Michigan to Ohio State, Michigan likely would still be ahead of Clemson. Where does LSU fall in the mix, where does Alabama fall in the mix? There’s still so many teams that we’ve yet to rank, that even if they were to lose, they’d still probably still be in front of the Tigers knowing the strength of schedule that remains in other places.
“So the ACC right now, this is a reflection on just the quality at the top. It’s a little bit more bunched up than we’re accustomed to.”
After McElroy made his comments, the SEC teams he mentioned — LSU and Alabama — came in at No. 7 and No. 9 in the rankings, respectively.
The new top four features Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and TCU, in that order.
Besides Clemson and North Carolina, the other two ACC teams that are ranked in the new CFP rankings are NC State (No. 16) and Florida State (No. 23), both of which the Tigers own wins over this season.
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