Clemson football: The Tiger football games most likely to host College Gameday

No. 2 – Miami at Clemson

For the record, I don’t think Miami will be a better team, or a better matchup for Clemson, than the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. I do not think this game will be a better game the Week 10 matchup in South Bend.

Best teams and best games don’t always make a site the most likely to host Gameday. The other potential options are important too. It’s a challenge to predict in August what will be the most attractive game in mid-November.

I have this game ranked slightly ahead of the Notre Dame game because this game is relevant to a conference championship. I think Miami will likely be undefeated in the ACC at this point. I think Clemson will be as well. This, in theory, is likely to be a preview of the ACC championship matchup.

I acknowledge I could be very wrong about Miami. Many people think the Hurricanes are overrated going into this season. I don’t think they are great – I just think the other teams in the Coastal Division aren’t very good either. The truth is it just takes one team to upset Miami and suddenly this game isn’t nearly as interesting.

That being said, I still don’t think Gameday will go to this game. I just don’t think the universe will bless Clemson with two Gameday visits in one season. I do hope I am wrong, though, because it would be awesome.

Other options: Utah at Oregon, USC at UCLA, TCU at Baylor or Oklahoma State at Oklahoma

It is so hard to see this far into the future, but if my expectations for these teams hold true, any of these games could also feature two teams battling for a spot in their conference title games. The PAC-12 elected to do away with divisions for 2022, so like the Big 12, they will simply take the top two teams and have them square off for their championship. If I had to guess which one beats out Miami at Clemson for Gameday, I would say it’s the Bedlam matchup between the Cowboys and the Sooners.