The most disrespected team in the College Football Playoff

It's easy to discount the Clemson Tigers in the College Football Playoff.

Clemson is the lone three-loss team in the College Football Playoff and it took a few miracles just to get the Tigers there. After losing to South Carolina, Clemson seemed to be firmly on the outside-looking-in on the CFP. Then, Miami lost to Syracuse and that opened up the door for them to play in the ACC Championship game.

Clemson jumped all over SMU in the first half of ACC Championship game, leading the Mustangs 24-7 at halftime. Then, the Tigers went cold on offense and SMU methodically made a comeback, tying things up at 31 apiece with a little less than 0:15 remaining in the game.

Then, the unthinkable happened. Clemson's third-string kick returner — Adam Randall — returned a kick back to the Clemson 45-yard line. Cade Klubnik hit Antonio Williams on a quick pass to set freshman kicker Nolan Hauser up with 56-yard attempt. The freshman winked before attempting the kick and then drilled it, giving Clemson a 34-31 walk-off win over SMU and earning an automatic bid in the playoff.

Clemson entered as the final seed in the field — the No. 12 seed — and is now set up to travel to Austin for a road matchup against the Texas Longhorns.

Of all the first-round games, this is the one with the largest point spread, according to Vegas odds.

Texas is listed as 10.5-point favorites over the Tigers. No other point spread in the first-round is above 8.5 points.

This isn't one of those Clemson teams of old. There's no Trevor Lawrence or Deshaun Watson. The defense isn't a unit like the aggressive defenses under Brent Venables. But, there's still talent. And Dabo Swinney is still on the sideline.

Some believe the game has passed Dabo Swinney by, but if you listen to him talk, you'll know that he's not as confused or naive as many make him out to be. He has changes to make, sure, but he's not gone. And now he's getting to crank of the "ROY bus" and the "little ole Clemson" mantra again.

If you don't remember, that was the attitude that starting the whole run for the Clemson football program.

Are we picking Clemson to beat Texas? Absolutely not. But, a two-score Vegas point spread seems a little disrespectful. This game feels like it's going to be a one possession game either way because Texas hasn't proven it can outscore anyone all season long. Why is it going to start in the postseason?

If Quinn Ewers stays the quarterback, he'll be the exact QB that the Tigers like to face. He's not a dual-threat running ability like LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina) or Kevin Jennings (SMU) that the Tigers have played the last few weeks and Clemson's secondary is actually quite good.

Now, Texas certainly has more talent. The Longhorns have a defense that is more talented than any other unit — maybe outside of Georgia — than the Tigers have played all season. But, Clemson arguably is the second-best team that Texas will have played this season, as well.

Again, no one should be arguing that Clemson will beat Texas. That seems like a stretch, but anything can happen in college football, and if there is a low-seeded team that could make a run, it feels like Clemson is set up as good as anyone.

Maybe Clemson gets blown out — it could happen — but if the Tigers somehow got through Austin, they'd have a pseudo-home game in the next round as they would play Arizona State in Atlanta. Just some food for thought.

Clemson loves to play the "disrespect card." They haven't gotten a chance to do it in quite a while, but this feels like the type of situation when vintage Dabo Swinney and the mantra we saw from Clemson back in 2015-2017 could re-emerge.

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