Clemson Football: Tigers jump Tide, move multiple spots in AP Poll

With an upset in Columbia and a couple of near upsets elsewhere, Clemson football kept its College Football Playoff hopes alive Saturday.

Not only that, but Clemson’s convincing win over Miami saw the Tigers leapfrog Alabama and, of course, Tennessee, in the latest AP Poll released Sunday.

Georgia once again topped the poll with 62 of 63 first place votes and Ohio State came in second with the other first place vote.

Those two were followed by Michigan, which won on a last minute field goal and TCU which won and a last second field goal.

Southern Cal moved up two spots to number 5 with LSU coming in sixth and Clemson seventh, also up two spots.

Alabama was eighth, 21 points behind Clemson, with Tennessee falling to ninth and Oregon rounding out the top 10.

The second ten consists of Penn State, Washington, Notre Dame, Utah, Kansas State, Florida State, UCLA, North Carolina, Tulane and Ole Miss.

The last five are Cincinnati, Oregon State, Coastal Carolina, Texas and UCF.

This leaves Clemson a path to the playoff if they take care of business the next two weeks and things fall the right way.

It’s widely believed that if Michigan loses to Ohio State they will be out, due to their weak non-conference schedule, LSU will face Georgia in the SEC Championship game, USC plays Notre Dame this weekend and TCU has to play Iowa State and likely a rematch with Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship.

There are many scenarios for Clemson football to make the Playoff, but they all involve winning the last two games

For me, the scenarios are too numerous to contemplate, so the best course of action is one Dabo Swinney often advocates – take care of your own business and things will take care of themselves.

It’s amazing what happens when you win convincingly. even if the opponent has largely given up on the season.

If the Tigers happen to win out and not make the playoff, there is no one to blame but themselves as the loss to Notre Dame was an ugly one that is likely lingering in the committee’s mind.