The Clemson Tigers received the ACC championship on Friday night time in thrilling vogue, beating SMU, 34-31, on a walk-off 56-yard field goal.
That win not solely places Clemson within the Faculty Soccer Playoff, but it surely additionally creates some potential havoc down the bracket and will have large implications for the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Alabama was within the 12-team subject after the newest rankings on Tuesday night time, however there was nothing snug about its placement. For the reason that Crimson Tide weren’t enjoying in a convention championship recreation of their very own, their best path to safe a playoff spot was going to be for SMU to defeat Clemson within the ACC recreation.
Or, maybe, hope that Clemson beat SMU so soundly and so emphatically that it would trigger the committee to drop it under Alabama within the remaining rating.
Neither occurred.
Not solely did a three-loss Clemson group win the ACC to leapfrog Alabama within the subject, however SMU performed so properly and made the sport so shut that it’s going to be nearly not possible for the committee to disregard it.
Alabama’s argument goes to be the identical as it’s for each borderline SEC group.
“We play within the SEC, and the SEC is one of the best convention, and which means one thing.”
Or one thing alongside these strains.
Whereas that could be true, taking a three-loss Alabama group that didn’t even attain its personal convention title recreation over a two-loss SMU group that was a subject objective away from beating Clemson could be fairly a leap for the committee, particularly when two of these three losses for Alabama got here in opposition to a 6-6 Vanderbilt group and a 6-6 Oklahoma group.
Clemson did what it wanted to do on Saturday by profitable its convention title recreation.
SMU ought to have accomplished sufficient by making it a recreation and taking it to the wire, going into the postseason with simply two losses.
Alabama had an opportunity to do what it wanted to do in opposition to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. It failed. It has no person accountable however itself if it misses the 12-team subject on Sunday.