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What’s does Clemson have to do to get to the 2020-2021 College Football Playoff? What’s the path?
The Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl will be played on January 1st, 2021, and the College Football Playoff National Championship will be in Miami on Monday, January 11th.
What does Clemson have to do to get into the fun for a sixth straight season? What are the five steps in the Path to the Playoff?
Path to the College Football Playoff, Step 1
The every-other-year pattern isn’t a bad thing.
The 2016 team went into the offseason really, really mad.
For all the fun and games around Dabo Swinney and the program, there appeared to be a serious business attitude that offseason after Deshaun Watson and company lost a thriller of a national championship to Alabama. There was a loss to Pitt along the way, but the Tigers went on to roll through Ohio State and then beat Bama for the CFP championship.
The 2017 team was good enough to earn the No. 1 playoff seed – despite a loss at Syracuse – and was dumped by the Crimson Tide in the CFP semifinal Sugar Bowl.
We don't just say, "best is the standard."
We show it. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/BIPIwLi5wg
— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) March 10, 2020
The 2018 version got back an ultra-motivated defensive front, welcomed in Trevor Lawrence, and ripped through just about everything in its path – at least after a scare from Syracuse – for a 15-0 season and a national title.
So last year’s team came up short against an epic-hot LSU team in a dream season – hardly any shame losing to that team.
Clemson knows how to dial it up that extra notch a year after a disappointment, and all that national title loss might mean is that the beast is angered.
Of course, it helps when you come up with great recruiting class after great recruiting class to restock the shelves. Even so …