Clemson Football hasn’t been to the College Football Playoffs since 2020, but they are hoping that will change in 2023. The Tigers will kick off the new season on Labor Day Monday in Durham against the Duke Blue Devils.
The national championship will be played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas on January 8, 2024. As usual, the semifinal games will be played in two of the New Year’s Six bowl games, which rotate every three seasons.
This season, the semifinal games will be played in the bowls that hosted them in the first season of the CFP: the Rose Bowl Game and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Both games will be played on January 1, 2024.
This will be the fourth time these bowls have hosted CFP semifinal matchups, following 2014, 2017, and 2020. Clemson played in the 2017 and 2020 Sugar Bowls, losing both games to Alabama and Ohio State respectively. The Tigers have never played in the Rose Bowl.
This will be the last time that the playoff will be four teams and three games. Starting in 2024, the field will expand to 12 teams and 11 games, and everyone’s odds to make the playoffs increases.
Clemson Football could get a bye in the 12-team playoff if they win the ACC in 2024 and beyond
Starting next season, the four New Year’s Six bowls that do not host semifinal games will host the quarterfinals. In 2024, the Capital One Orange Bowl and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic will host the semifinals, and the Rose, Sugar, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl and Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl will host the quarterfinals. The first-round games will be hosted on the campuses of the four highest-ranked conference champions.
Since the Rose Bowl will always host a semifinal or quarterfinal, it will no longer be likely to host the champions of the Big Ten and PAC-12, as it has for many years. From now on, if that matchup is to happen, it will have to be the result of the seeding of the two conference champions.