Time for Clemson football to adapt to the world around them.
Clemson football fans saw Tuesday night that the College Football Playoff committee, chaired by Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta, are hell-bent on letting Ohio State into the Top 4 regardless of how few games that they have played.
While it is not in the nature of Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney nor athletics director Dan Radakovich to not play, both the Tigers and the Irish should seriously consider not playing the ACC championship game at this point.
If the teams did not play, both assure themselves a spot in the College Football Playoffs.
If Clemson football had stopped playing after their fifth game, they would be 5-0, their last game on record would be beating 10th ranked Miami 42-17. The Tigers would still be the top-ranked team in the polls and they would have had a chance to get completely healthy.
This notion that Ohio State should get in the CFP while playing 5 or 6 games against these opponents is absurd:
— Gator Jen (@jenafish17) December 7, 2020
Nebraska (2-4)
Penn State (2-5)
Rutgers (2-5)
Indiana (6-1)
Michigan State (2-4)
If the College Football Playoff committee is going to allow the Big Ten to circumvent the work that the SEC, ACC, and Big XII did to make sure their teams played almost a full schedule, despite COVID issues, then teams with something on the line should be able to take a step back as well and not play another game.
Yes, Clemson football fans really want “revenge” for the lone 2020 loss in South Bend, however, I would argue that if they don’t play in Charlotte in two weeks, that game then gets moved to the CFP, and beating Notre Dame then would be even sweeter than in a conference title game.
It is more important to be healthy and have a chance to win a national title than to win a conference championship.
We all know that neither of these programs will pull out of the conference title game, but they should give it serious thought knowing that they will potentially have to match up with a well-rested and unscathed Ohio State team that was afforded the opportunity to play for a title in a year that their own commissioner didn’t think football should even be played.
Hypocrisy surrounds college football, but in true 2020 fashion, this will take the cake.