Clemson Football is ranked behind Alabama, but it won’t matter
Clemson football fans are pissed that the Tigers are ranked behind Alabama in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, but it won’t matter.
I realize that Clemson football fans are probably upset about the recent release of the College Football Playoff rankings.
How can the 9-1 Tigers be trailing not one, but two, two-loss teams from the SEC in Alabama and LSU? If Clemson football fans are mad, I wonder how USC fans are feeling because the Tigers also leapfrogged the Trojans after a sluggish 13-10 win at Arkansas.
The logic of the committee is hard to follow at times. It seems like they do rank teams JUST to make people mad or at least create some talking points.
That’s probably not true but are they sending some sort of message about Alabama and its playoff viability by ranking them eight, ahead of Clemson and North Carolina?
No. They aren’t. At least not in my opinion. There is still a lot of time left to go and a lot of football to be played and I’m confident that if Clemson wins out, it will be ranked ahead of Alabama.
Frankly, I think North Carolina should feel that way too.
Why Clemson/North Carolina shouldn’t be THAT worried about Alabama
We know the College Football Playoff committee has a love affair with Alabama. But, the Tigers have a definite case to make. Alabama did just notch a top-15 win on the road over Ole Miss.
But, Clemson beat No. 17 Florida State on the road. The wins over NC State and Wake Forest are looking worse, but the Tigers also beat a six-win Louisville team.
The key for Clemson football and North Carolina is winning out. They will face each other in the ACC title game and a resounding win there for either would add nice punctuation to a College Football Playoff resume.
The Tigers need Notre Dame to keep winning. For one, it will make their loss look better and it would also mean USC, the last one-loss team left in the Pac-12 would have two losses.
Clemson and North Carolina still need a lot of help though. Unless TCU drops two games, I think the Horned Frogs have a good shot at making it and it’s clear the ACC is viewed as the lowest-ranked conference champion.
I still think that the conference title would push the ACC champ ahead of Alabama if it had one loss. But would it push the ACC champion — Clemson or North Carolina — into the top four?
It seems unlikely. The only way I see it is if the Big 12 and Pac-12 both have two-loss champions. Yet, if I was TCU and had to compare my resume to Clemson, I’d be nervous, because remember the first set of ranking where the Tigers were ranked ahead of Michigan?
Clemson football fans want to say the committee has an Alabama bias. I think it has one for Clemson too and it might just be enough to make the playoff at 12-1 if all the cards fall right.
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It’s a long shot though. However, all of this freaking out about Alabama, it’s just not warranted because if the Tigers win the ACC title, it will be a moot point.