Clemson Tigers News: Gymnastics, Christian Bentancur, 5+7 Model

Today’s Events

Clemson Baseball vs Presbyterian Blue Hose: 4:00 PM at Doug Kingsmore Stadium – see Marty Coleman’s preview of this contest here.

Clemson Gymnastics is still strong in the rankings

Clemson Gymnastics is having a very successful first season, and they continue to have athletes who show up in the rankings.

The Tigers come in at No. 24 this week, and this quintet continues to rank individually.

The AAI Award is given annually to the most outstanding gymnast and Rebecca Wells has been nominated for this season’s award.

47 gymnasts from across the nation have been nominated for this season’s award, including Chloe Negrete from NC State and Hallie Thompson from North Carolina.

Clemson Football head coach Dabo Swinney has commented in the past that his program likes athletes who participate in multiple sports. Incoming freshman Christian Bentancur won’t be an early enrollee this season in part because he is playing his senior season of basketball.

This week Bentancur reached a milestone that has never been achieved by a high school athlete in the state of Illinois.

New CFP 5+7 model is finally official

Ross Dellinger is posting that the expected change to a 5+7 model in the College football Playoff has finally been made official.

He notes this change is for this season and next. How they will structure it in 2026 and beyond could still be up for debate, and might depend on how the next two seasons shake out.

Up until now, the model had been a 6+6, meaning six automatic bids among conference champions and six at-large bids. This design previously would have yielded automatic bids to the Power Five and the highest ranked Group of Five conference, in theory.

With the collapse of the PAC-12 as a Power conference, the new 5+7 keeps only one Group of Five champion unless one of the Power schools finishes lower in the standings.