Clemson Still Controls Own Destiny Regardless If FSU Game Is Rescheduled Or Not

Clemson would still own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Miami if both teams finish the year with only one ACC loss

Football fans arose to breaking news this morning that Clemson and Florida State would not play today after medical teams from both schools were unable to move forward with today's game as scheduled. 

Conflicting reports this morning stated that if the game isn't played, it could cost the Tigers a spot in the ACC title game as Miami could move ahead of Clemson due to winning percentage. 

However, a quick read of the 2020 ACC Football Tiebreaker policy debunks those reports: 

"However, for any team to be eligible for the ACC Football Championship Game, or to be considered in a tiebreaker, such team must have played within one (1) total conference game of the average number of conference games played by all conference teams (rounding up/down at .5) during the 2020 season. For example, if the average number of conference games played in the 2020 season is 9.25 (value of nine (9) when rounded down), a team would be eligible to participate in the ACC Football Championship Game or be considered in a tiebreaker if that team played eight (8) or more conference games. Furthermore, in the event there is an unequal total number of conference games played among teams tied in the loss column, head-to-head results will take precedence over win-percentage."

The announcement to postpone today's game came a near three hours before kickoff. 

As reported on the site earlier, Clemson had passed all ACC COVID-19 protocols and was prepared to play. However, Florida State seems to have backed out of the opportunity to play even as late as Monday, shutting down head coach Dabo Swinney's offer to have more testing completed before playing the game. 

There are reports that Clemson had a backup offensive line test positive from Friday's routine round of testing and that the player had traveled with the team down to Tallahassee. 

While the argument is being made that Florida State didn't want to risk a potential spread to its team, there is no evidence of transmission from one team to another during competition. 

Source: Potential re-schedule of Clemson-FSU is Dec. 12. Clemson was open to playing Sunday or Monday. FSU didn't agree. https://t.co/Bhmq7Vij0E

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 21, 2020

It appears Florida State found a path to postponing today's game took advantage of it. Now, both teams could be eyeing a potential makeup date on Dec. 12--one week before the 2020 ACC Championship Game.