Clemson disrespected by CFP Committee, will take on No.5 Texas as No. 12 seed

Apparently, Clemson winning the ACC championship did not impress the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. That's because Sunday, when the official bracket for the 12-team field was announced, not only did the Tigers move up only one spot from No. 17 in the rankings last week to No. 16 this week but they were also slotted as the No. 12 seed in the tournament.

That's obviously the lowest seed of any team in the field and it means that Clemson has a tough task in round one. The Tigers will open the playoff by traveling to take on No. 5 seed Texas in Austin in the opening round on December 21 at 4 p.m. Eastern. The Longhorns, who lost the SEC Championship Game to Georgia in overtime on Saturday are the No. 3 team in the rankings and the highest-rated team to not receive a first-round bye.

Clemson fans should have a problem with Boise State being not only ranked ahead of the Tigers but being given the No. 3 overall seed. That's because the Broncos, who won the Mountain West, have a much less impressive resume than Clemson does.

While the Broncos are 12-1 on the season, they have only one ranked win on their ledger. That was Friday's victory at home over No. 20 UNLV in the MWC title game.

Meanwhile, the Tigers just beat the No. 8 team in the country, SMU, on a neutral field. That win is by far better than anything Boise State has done this season.

Now, what hurt the Tigers' playoff positioning are their blowout losses to Georgia (which is the No. 2 seed in the playoff) to open the season and unranked Louisville. However, even with those losses, Clemson has a better body of work than Boise State.

According to TeamRankings.com, Clemson's strength of schedule this year is the 23rd toughest in the country. Meanwhile, Boise's strength of schedule comes in at No. 70.

While the Tigers faced then-No. 1 Georgia, then-No. 15 South Carolina, and then-No. 8 SMU this year, the only ranked team from a power conference that Boise played was then-No. 7 Oregon, which beat the Broncos 37-34 in Eugene. Though that is a respectable loss for Boise, the committee has already set the precedent that quality losses don't factor into their rankings so that game shouldn't have boosted Boise's status.

However, the committee has spoken and they have given the Tigers the toughest first-round opponent they could have. Should Clemson prevail and beat Texas, then they would play No. 4 seed Arizona State, the Big 12 champion, in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta on January 1st.

Meanwhile, as for the team that Clemson beat in the ACC title game, SMU, they got the final at-large birth in the field giving the ACC two teams in the playoff. The Mustangs will take on No. 6 seed Penn State in Happy Valley on December 21st. That means that blue-blood Alabama was the first team left out of the field and the reason the Crimson Tide are not in the playoff is because Clemson won the ACC to steal a bid.

It is a sign of respect for the conference and people associated with the ACC are likely thrilled to have two teams in the field. However, the ACC champion Clemson was absolutely disrespected by the committee and will face the most difficult first-round test possible as the committee was somehow unimpressed by the Tiger's dramatic win over SMU on Saturday night.