Surprisingly, Paul Finebaum, who has been known to hate on Clemson, is optimistic about the Tigers’ chances of getting into the College Football Playoff this season.
The ESPN personality appeared on First Take and was asked if he sees Clemson, which opened the season with a 41-10 win over Georgia Tech on Monday night, making the playoff.
“I do,” Finebaum said. “And I know a lot of people are jumping off the Clemson bandwagon because last night was not perfect. It wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was downright ugly for most of the game. But that’s really not the object. The object is to finish the season and to make it into the championship game of the league and of course into the CFP, and I think they can do that.”
Clemson has two new coordinators for the first time in Dabo Swinney’s 14 full seasons as the Tigers’ head coach, and Finebaum pointed out that it takes time for everybody to get on the same page.
“They have two new coordinators, which takes some time to develop,” he said. “I’m not normally a patient person. But in this case, I’m going to be because I think Dabo Swinney is a good enough coach, I think he has stockpiled enough talent and now it’s just a matter of navigating a rather subpar ACC schedule.”
Speaking of that schedule, Finebaum doesn’t envision Clemson having too much trouble or a lot of games in which the Tigers could slip up.
However, Finebaum cited the Nov. 5 road trip to Notre Dame — and perhaps a date with Pittsburgh in the ACC Championship Game — as what could stand in Clemson’s way to the playoff.
“The one problem they could have – they go to Notre Dame later in the season,” he said. “They do see Wake and NC State and all that. … But I don’t think they’re going to have too many problems. I think Notre Dame is really all they have between a ticket to the ACC Championship Game, and maybe Pittsburgh, and then ultimately getting back in the CFP.”
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