Could a 12-0 Clemson football team miss the CFB Playoff if things fell the wrong way? We weigh in on our thoughts heading into October.
Several Clemson football fans have reached out and asked about the chances of the Tigers missing the CFB Playoff with a 12-0 record.
National Analysts, particularly Paul Finebaum, are already attempting to push for such a thing to happen, saying that the ACC is nothing more than a glorified Group of 5 conference. While these analysts don’t have a say in the CFB Playoff Poll, they certainly help shape the narrative, which committee members listen to.
So, could a 12-0 Clemson football team miss the CFB Playoff? The answer, in my opinion, is no.
Why? Because we’re never going to see a circumstance where we have four or more undefeated teams in College Football.
People always think every team at this point in the season is going undefeated. If you look at what analysts say, they’ll tell you that no one is going to beat Oklahoma, Ohio State, Alabama, etc.
Even if all of those teams went undefeated, there would still only be four undefeated Power-5 teams in College Football.
That being said, the concern from the Clemson football fans that have asked this come from the question of a one-loss SEC team getting in ahead of an undefeated Clemson team.
SEC Network Analysts would certainly make the argument that an 11-1 LSU team deserves to be in over 12-0 Clemson. Or they might would say that 12-1 Georgia- assuming the Bulldogs only lose the SEC Championship- should be in over the Tigers. Or, heaven forbid Alabama lose a game to LSU and not win the SEC West division.
That’s the only scenario, in my opinion, where things get murky.
Let’s say LSU wins the SEC West with a perfect 12-0 record (or 11-1 for that matter) and then beats Georgia in the SEC Championship game. Let’s pretend that the Bulldogs have their second loss and they’re out.
If Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma were all undefeated, we’d have a one-loss LSU team definitely in the field and a one-loss Alabama team looking to knock out one of those undefeated teams. Who gets left out?
There’s certainly a scenario where we could see a 12-0 Clemson football team get left out, but it’s just not likely and is an absurd thing to mention at this point. Things play out over the course of the CFB season and all the Tigers need to do is focus on winning. As long as they do that, everything else will take care of itself.
So, to those Clemson fans already stressing, don’t worry. These things always seem unclear at the beginning of October, but they won’t stay that way.