CFP Path: Scenarios Shrink, But Vols Still Stand in Clemson's Way

No. 9 Clemson's road to getting into the College Football Playoff cleared up a little bit this past week. Plus, games to keep an eye on Saturday.

Brad Senkiw | Nov 19, 2022

Jason Priester/All Clemson

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Clemson Tigers

Clemson's road to getting into the College Football Playoff cleared up a little bit this past week.

With Oregon getting upset by Washington and falling out of the top 10 with their second loss and UCLA going down to Arizona, the Pac-12 is down to one team with big-time postseason aspirations. No. 7 Southern Cal is it.

That's great news for the Tigers, who still need a lot of help and probably some impressive wins in the next three weeks to have a shot at the top 4.

Clemson moved up just one spot from 10th to ninth, and a pair of two-loss teams in No. 8 Alabama and No. 6 LSU remain roadblocks for the Tigers. That should clear itself up, though. If the Tigers win out and claim the ACC title, you'd think they'd move ahead of Alabama.

And if LSU loses to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, the SEC Tigers are out of the picture. If they win, though, it could be hard for a 12-1 Clemson to get past them.

The Big Ten will take care of itself with No. 3 Michigan going to No. 2 Ohio State next week.

TCU continues to be a problem as well. The Horned Frogs won a defensive battle over Texas last week to remain No. 4 in the CFP rankings, and if they win out, they're in. There is no doubt about that.

Tennessee is also still looming at No. 5. Would a 1-loss ACC champ Clemson definitely jump a Vols team that can't win its own division? That's the great unknown. The playoff committee really likes this UT offense and the fact they have wins over LSU and Alabama.

It feels like the committee is just itching for a reason to get the Vols in there, and Tennessee isn't losing again with South Carolina and Vanderbilt left on the schedule.

Will the deciders of the playoff rely on a resume or the eye test? Time will tell.

Clemson has to take care of business against Miami on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., but it also needs to be a convincing, dominating win. Style points matter and the Tigers need a ton to reverse a narrative that the offense hasn't really gotten on track this season and lags behind the big dogs in college football.

There are still many things that have to happen for Clemson to get into the CFP, but the opportunity is still there, especially if chaos ensues in the next two weeks.

Here are some intriguing games for Saturday that have CFP implications:

No. 4 TCU at Baylor, noon
Illinois at No. 3 Michigan, noon
No. 5 Tennessee at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
No. 7 USC at No. 16 UCLA, 8 p.m.

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