College Football Playoff Projections 2018: Contenders make Week 10 statements

2. Clemson (9-0)

The gap between the top two and everyone else grows larger every week. Clemson, in yet another bludgeoning of an overmatched foe, toyed with Louisville in a 77-16 win for their fourth consecutive blowout after a close win over Syracuse.

The Tigers have been bored for several weeks, looking to inject excitement into mundane blowouts by giving goal-line touchdowns to defensive linemen Christian Wilkins and Dexter Lawrence in consecutive weeks. Even Dabo Swinney‘s son, Will, a walk-on receiver just like his Dad, got in on the scoring action in their win over the Cardinals.

Freshman sensation Trevor Lawrence only threw for 59 yards and the Tigers still managed 77 points. They racked up 492 rushing yards, with three 100+ yard rushers in Travis Etienne, Lyn-J Dixon, and Tavien Feaster.

Clemson has one final regular season test to ensure that they will be back in the playoff for the fourth straight season. They go to Chestnut Hill next week to battle a ranked Boston College team in a game that could decide the ACC Atlantic. After that, there doesn’t seem to be a serious stumbling block ahead that could knock Swinney and company out of the college football playoff. They finish the regular season at home against Duke and South Carolina, and then will take on whoever comes out of the Coastal division cluster.

None of which look like serious challengers to Clemson.