Clemson Football Gets Favorable Win Projection For Season

But will that win projection be enough to get the Clemson Tigers back into the College Football Playoff?

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney signals to go for a two-point conversion against Kentucky during the fourth quarter of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, Friday, December 29, 2023. Clemson won 38-35. / Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Clemson Tigers appear poised to return to double-digit victories after a one-year absence, according to 247Sports’ projections for the 2024 season.

The Tigers went 9-4 last season, which snapped a streak of 12 seasons with at least 10 or more wins under coach Dabo Swinney.

With quarterback Cade Klubnik leading the offense, the Tigers should approach the 10-win threshold once again.

The site projected that the Tigers would win 10 games and beat Appalachian State, North Carolina State, Stanford, Wake Forest, Virginia, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, The Citadel and South Carolina.

It’s the two projected losses that could stymie the Tigers’ return to the College Football Playoff.

Those losses are to Georgia in the season opener and to Florida State in Week 5. The site noted that the Tigers have “two of the biggest games in the ACC” in 2024.

Because of that, the site has the Tigers finishing third in the league behind Florida State, which it projects to go 11-1 but win all of its ACC games and Miami (FL), which it projects to go 11-1 and 7-1 in the ACC, with its only loss to Florida State.

Without the divisional format this year, the Seminoles and the Hurricanes would move on to the ACC Championship Game and leave the Tigers on the outside looking in. It would also mean the Tigers would have a hard time getting into an expanded CFP, which will take 12 teams in the new expanded format. The winner of the ACC’s championship game gets an automatic bid.

If there’s good news for the Tigers it’s this — a win over Florida State would put the Tigers in the ACC title game and one step closer to the CFP. That assumes, of course, that the Tigers win the games they’re projected to win.

With six appearances, the Tigers made the second-most appearances in the CFP in the four-team playoff era, which started with the 2014 season. Only Alabama, with eight, made more.

Clemson won the national championship at the end of the 2016 and 2018 seasons, while reaching the championship game at the end of the 2015 and 2019 seasons. The Tigers haven’t been back to the CFP since reaching the semifinals in 2020.