Clemson's updated College Football Playoff ranking unveiled

Clemson is up to No. 9 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Tue Nov 15 22:07:19 GMT-04:00 2022

There are three gameweeks left before the final College Football Playoff selections and Clemson has the chance that not all CFP contenders do: to impress in all three.

The Playoff committee set their starting spot for that run on Tuesday with a No. 9 ranking.

Per ESPN, the Tigers are No. 8 in Strength of Record (SOR) and No. 55 in strength of schedule (SOS) with a 31st-best remaining SOS. Compared to other one-loss teams in the mix, Tennessee has the best resume currently (3 SOR/3 SOS), Southern Cal is behind Clemson (10 SOR/65 SOS) and UNC is behind that (11 SOR/75 SOS). Michigan (5 SOR/82 SOS) or Ohio State (4 SOR/60 SOS) will have at least one loss as they play in Columbus next week.

From Clemson's schedule, Florida State checked in at No. 19 and NC State at No. 24 this week, with Notre Dame No. 18 and UNC to come up to No. 13.

FiveThirtyEight’s odds peg Clemson for the fifth-best Playoff shot (44%), up one spot and 10% this week, trailing one-loss Tennessee (46%) but ahead of undefeated Michigan (41%), two-loss LSU (15%) and one-loss Southern Cal (13%). Unbeatens Georgia (88%), Ohio State (66%) and TCU (50%) lead that model. If the Tigers win out, FiveThirtyEight gives them an 81% chance of making the Playoff without other results factored in, but they are seen at even odds with Southern Cal (45% each) in a scenario where both win out and there are unbeatens in the SEC (Georgia), Big Ten (Michigan) and Big 12 (TCU) – yet are given better odds if Ohio State wins out (49% to 33% for Southern Cal).

The ESPN FPI Playoff model gives the Tigers the sixth-best chance (27.3%), dropping nearly three percent week-to-week, trailing Georgia (95.5%), Ohio State (86.7%), Michigan (62.4), Tennessee (59.7%) and TCU (32.7%) but again ahead of fellow one-loss team Southern Cal (7.6%).

In overall metric rankings this week, Clemson checked in at No. 9 in the ESPN Football Power Index and No. 14 with ESPN’s SP+ rankings.

CFP Rankings - 11/15 (Updated as they come in)

1. Georgia

2. Ohio State

3. Michigan

4. TCU

5. Tennessee

6. LSU

7. USC

8. Alabama

9. Clemson

10. Utah

11. Penn State

12. Oregon

13. UNC

14. Ole Miss

15. Kansas State

16. UCLA

17. Washington

18. Notre Dame

19. Florida State

20. UCF

21. Tulane

22. Oklahoma State

23. Oregon State

24. NC State

25. Cincinnati

2022-23 Playoff committee

Mitch Barnhart (athletics director, University of Kentucky), Tom Burman (athletics director, University of Wyoming), chairman Boo Corrigan (athletics director, North Carolina State University), Rick George (athletics director, University of Colorado), Will Shields (former All-American offensive lineman, University of Nebraska), Gene Taylor (athletics director, Kansas State University), Joe Taylor (Vice President for Athletics and Community Wellness, Virginia Union University), John Urschel (member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ and former All-American offensive lineman, Penn State University), Rod West (group president Entergy Corporation and former linebacker at the University of Notre Dame), Chet Gladchuk (athletics director at the U.S. Naval Academy), Jim Grobe (longtime head coach at Ohio University, Wake Forest and Baylor), Warde Manuel (athletics director at the University of Michigan) and Kelly Whiteside (longtime sportswriter for USA Today, Sports Illustrated and Newsday).