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Clemson Football: Possibly CFB Playoff scenarios heading into Week 12

By Shawn Spencer

SAN DIEGO, CA - OCTOBER 27: Miles Boykin #81, with Nic Weishar #82 and Chase Claypool #83, of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrate after scoring a touchdown in the 1st half against the Navy Midshipmen at SDCCU Stadium on October 27, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - OCTOBER 27: Miles Boykin #81, with Nic Weishar #82 and Chase Claypool #83, of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrate after scoring a touchdown in the 1st half against the Navy Midshipmen at SDCCU Stadium on October 27, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images) /
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Who could Clemson football play should the Tigers make it to the CFB Playoff? Here are a couple of scenarios heading into week 12 of the season.

The Clemson football team is just three wins away from basically make it back the College Football Playoff for a fourth-consecutive year.

Standing in the Tigers’ way is Duke, South Carolina and an ACC Championship Game most likely against the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Assuming that Clemson was to win-out and finish through that stretch of games unbeaten, the Tigers would be 13-0 and heading back to the playoff.

Following the release of the rankings Tuesday evening, we want to lay out a few scenarios to see who the Tigers could possibly see in the first round. But first, let’s take a look at who is still in the hunt.

Who’s still in the hunt?

*A star indicates the team is undefeated.*

ACC: Clemson*

Big Ten: Michigan, Ohio State

Big 12: Oklahoma, West Virginia

Pac-12: Washington State

SEC: Alabama*, Georgia, LSU

Others: Notre Dame*

I don’t really see a reasonable path to the playoff for LSU, but the Tigers still have to be considered in the hunt because they are ranked No. 7 in the land, even with two losses and no chance at winning their division.

Perhaps if Bama was upset by Auburn, Georgia was beaten by Georgia Tech and then the Bulldogs won the SEC, along with a whole host of other things happening to conferences outside of the SEC, LSU may have a chance.

Even then, it’s probably not likely.

Interesting Scenarios:

  • Notre Dame loses to Syracuse this week.
  • Bama and Clemson go undefeated.
  • West Virginia and Oklahoma split games at the end of the season
  • Michigan loses to Ohio State

If this were to happen, you’d have two undefeateds in Clemson and Alabama. Then you’d have a two-loss conference champion in the Big 12 and the Big Ten. The Pac-12 would have a one-loss conference champion in Washington State and then you’d have a one-loss Notre Dame and several two loss teams to choose from. I guess the committee would take the two one-loss teams, but what if Washington State were to lose as well?

In that circumstance, we’d have to have our first two-loss team enter the playoff. Would it be a two-loss Georgia team from the SEC? The two-loss Big 12 or Big Ten Champion (Ohio State)? Possibly even a two-loss LSU team that didn’t even win their own division?

In my opinion, the front-runner should be the two-loss Big 12 Champion, but I wouldn’t be shocked at all if the committee went with Ohio State or one of the SEC teams, just knowing how they view things.

Next. Grading Trevor Lawrence through his first six starts. dark

It’s certainly fun to think about and I believe we’ll get some more carnage here in the next couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see how these teams align and just what happens as we close out the regular season of College Football.

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