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Week 10 of the 2022 college football season turned the College Football Playoff race upside down. Some teams had their playoff hopes renewed in the chaos, while others had theirs dashed. Of all the losers on Saturday, none were bigger than the Clemson Tigers.
After placing fourth in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, Clemson had every reason to be optimistic. Despite looking shaky at multiple points this season, the Tigers looked to have an inside track to the playoff. As long as they could win out, they'd be in the top four at the end of the season.
Then, disaster struck Clemson on Saturday night. The Tigers traveled to South Bend to face unranked Notre Dame, entering the game as a slight favorite. Instead, the Fighting Irish demolished the Tigers 35-14 to hand Clemson its first loss of the season.
Normally, one loss wouldn't be enough to eliminate a premiere Power Five team like Clemson from the playoff race. In fact, the Tigers have made the playoff multiple times with a loss, specifically in 2016, 2017 and 2020. However, this Clemson team is not the same as those in the past, and multiple factors make this task much more difficult this season.
Without further delay, let's go over a few reasons why Clemson will not make the 2022 College Football Playoff.
3. Clemson's loss is a bad one
There's no way to sugarcoat it, Clemson's loss to Notre Dame on Saturday night was simply awful. This is the same Notre Dame team that lost to Marshall and Stanford at home earlier in the season. Those teams have a combined record of 8-10 this season, yet still looked far better than Clemson did in the same environment.
Even worse than who the Tigers lost is how they lost. Even though Notre Dame won by three touchdowns, this game was even more lopsided than the score indicates. The Irish led 28-0 early in the fourth quarter, and the Tigers only scored in garbage time and failed to do anything on offense until it was far too late.
Clemson has lost to some poor teams in the past and still made the playoff, including Pittsburgh in 2016 and Syracuse in 2017. However, the Tigers have never had a game where they looked completely outmatched in a season where they made the playoff.
The Tigers showed massive flaws in earlier weeks, and it finally caught up to them on Saturday. If this was a one-off performance, that would be one thing, but that isn't the case. This terrible loss may be enough to keep Clemson out of the playoff by itself.
2. The ACC is weak this year
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Sure, the ACC was weak when Clemson made the playoff in previous seasons, but this may be a new low. The Tigers were the conference's one hope for a spot in the playoff, but that hope appears to be dead following their loss. In fact, it's possible that no ACC team cracks the top 10 once the new rankings release on Tuesday night.
While five ACC teams landed in the initial CFP rankings, three of them, Syracuse, Wake Forest and NC State, placed in the 20s. Syracuse and Wake Forest lost and will likely fall out of the rankings, in addition to Clemson's massive fall to come. Some teams such as Florida State and Louisville could possibly crack the rankings this week, but that still won't be enough to save the ACC from being the weakest Power Five conference this season.
Due to the ACC's lack of strength this season, a conference title means less than it would for the other big conferences. Clemson may have been able to get by with an undefeated record, but that luxury is gone.
1. Clemson's resume is terrible
Both of the previous points combine to make Clemson's resume arguably the weakest among the playoff “contenders.” When looking at just this season and not what Clemson has done previously, there's nothing here.
The Tigers have three wins over ranked teams at the time of the game, but only one of them, NC State, is likely to stay in the rankings this week. They also have a terrible non-conference schedule, with only wins over Furman and Louisiana Tech. When they finally had a chance at a decent non-conference win, they delivered their worst performance of the season.
What does Clemson have on its resume that's actually impressive? A 10-point win over NC State at home, a double-overtime win where Wake Forest torched their secondary, a comeback win over Syracuse after DJ Uiagaelelei went to the bench? Those just aren't good enough to stand out from the competition.
Many claimed the Tigers were too high in the initial rankings, believing they placed far too high. Saturday's loss not only confirmed those doubts but effectively eliminated the Tigers from playoff contention.
