CFP Committee Has Been 'Watching' Clemson All Year

Tuesday the Clemson Tigers made their debut in the CFP rankings at No. 23, but the committee has had their eyes on the Tigers for a while.

The Clemson Tigers made their debut in the 2021 College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday at No. 23.

The fans have been up in arms over the last few weeks with the perceived lack of respect for a program that has been in the playoff the last six seasons, won two national titles and played in four national titles—all while watching teams like a four-loss Mississippi State team, and three-loss teams Arkansas, Utah, Texas A&M, NC State and Wisconsin find a spot in the rankings.

Last week, Clemson Tiger head coach Dabo Swinney said that he believed that the Tigers should be ranked in the polls.

"Absolutely. No question," Swinney said. "It just comes with who we are as a program," he said. "Nobody wants to give any of our opponents any credit. Georgia is pretty good. I think we played them pretty good. They only scored 3 points on us. We scored the other 7. NC State is pretty good. Pretty good team at their place double overtime. Pitt pretty good. Their place and had our chance to win it. So I think it's more Clemson stinks as opposed to the opponents are good. I think that is something that just comes with who were are as a program. Whether that is fair or not? I just know we lost to some good teams that were better than us that day."

Apparently, the committee heard Swinney's argument and, FINALLY, agreed with him.

When asked if the committee considered the fact that the Tigers' three losses were to Pittsburgh on the road, a double-overtime loss to NC State and the 10-3 loss to No. 1 Georgia in the season-opener in Charlotte, committee chair Gary Barta said it wasn't their losses that kept them out of the ranking, it was their lack of a big win—that changed last week with their blowout of then No. 10 Wake Forest.

"We definitely talked about it (win over Wake Forest), and we did talk about how Clemson played Georgia in that first game, their other losses against Pitt and North Carolina State," Barta said. "They didn't have a bad loss. Their best win was the win this weekend. Prior to that, they really didn't have a signature win."

Barta admitted that even though the Tigers made their debut Tuesday, the committee has been watching them closely.

"One of the things, though, the committee has been impressed with, Clemson has been playing really strong defense all year, so even though they haven't been in the top 25, the committee has been watching them every week," Barta said.