As Clemson relaxed and recovered during its bye week, the college football world was out of its mind this weekend. We were overdue for a handful of upsets to occur. While Texas losing to Oklahoma in Red River, South Carolina steamrolling Florida, and UCLA outlasting Oregon grabbed most of the headlines, a few other teams that Clemson needed to see lose fell over the course of the weekend.
Here is what the AP Top 25 Poll could look like heading into the Week 7 slate out of Clemson's bye.
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Miami Hurricanes
- Texas Longhorns
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Indiana Hoosiers
- BYU Cougars
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Texas Tech Red Raiders
- UCLA Bruins
- Utah Utes
- Missouri Tigers
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Oklahoma State Cowboys
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
- USC Trojans
- Iowa Hawkeyes
- Houston Cougars
- Boise State Broncos
- Kentucky Wildcats
- Wake Forest Demon Deacons
- SMU Mustangs
- LSU Tigers
- Oregon Ducks
Georgia would be your new No. 1 after beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa, in conjunction with top-ranked Texas losing to arch rival Oklahoma in Red River. UCLA put itself into playoff position by effectively taking the Big Ten's third spot into the 12-team tournament from Oregon. Kentucky is a menace in the SEC, while Iowa may just be good in the Big Ten. As for the ACC, that is a whole other fish to fry, folks.
Clemson now has little hope to face a ranked team the rest of the season
From purely a Clemson perspective, here is what you need to know about how the AP Top 25 could shake out heading into Week 7. Miami is still the best team in the league by a considerable margin. However, a team it beat earlier in the season in Wake Forest might be the second best team in the conference. SMU has a higher ceiling than the Demon Deacons, but we can trust Wake Forest more.
With Pitt losing to North Carolina, that makes Clemson's home win over the Tar Heels look even better. Bill Belichick may not have a bad team in Chapel Hill after all. However, the three best teams Clemson has left in ACC play all lost in Duke, Virginia Tech, and Florida State. Duke could have been ranked, but lost to Georgia Tech during the final play. Virginia Tech has now lost two games in a row.
While Florida State cannot win games away from Tallahassee, it does not look like Syracuse will be much of a threat on the road for Clemson. The Orange fell to a Virginia Cavaliers team that had been reeling. In fact, the only two Power Four teams left on Clemson's schedule who won this weekend were South Carolina over Florida and Georgia Tech over Duke. Clemson could seriously get to 10-2.
Although the chances of Clemson beating a ranked opponent the rest of the way are slim to none, Dabo Swinney's team can take advantage of its soft slate that is only getting softer. The fact Clemson gets to avoid SMU and Wake Forest in league play is huge for the Tigers. While this does not give the Tigers any margin for error moving forward, they will have the runway to pick up slack after the bye.
Right now, the only way Clemson will crack the polls later on is by winning all of its games with margin.
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