ESPN Playoff Predictor features Clemson outside top-4 most likely in |
There is still a little under a month of college football to go before the scheduled College Football Playoff is settled, but the No. 4-ranked Tigers still have some work to do.
ESPN's Playoff Predictor shifted over the weekend to feature a projected quartet currently of Alabama (94.2%), Ohio State (71.1), Notre Dame (59.3) and Cincinnati (35.3). Clemson, after the unscheduled off week, is next-best (33.5) and Oregon after that (26.9). Those numbers notwithstanding, a combination of the current top-4 is what ESPN's pundits project currently: Clemson-Ohio State in the Rose Bowl in one pick and Clemson-Alabama in the Sugar in another. CBS Sports kept its CFP projection of Ohio State (2-seed) and Clemson (3-seed) in the Rose Bowl opposite Alabama (1) and Oregon (4) in the Sugar Bowl. ESPN's mock CFP committee has Clemson as a 4-seed going into the first Playoff rankings on Tuesday (7 p.m./ESPN), with Alabama, Notre Dame and Ohio State the top-3 on average. Among those fighting to fit in the field, Cincinnati improved to 8-0 with a 36-33 win at UCF Saturday. They finish out their schedule with road trips to Temple and No. 24 Tulsa before an AAC championship game. Oregon, after starting its season on Nov. 7, has games set with Oregon State (on the road), Cal (road) and Washington (home) before a Dec. 19 Pac-12 title game. Clemson (7-1) is scheduled back in action on Saturday at home versus Pitt after a layoff since Nov. 7 (Oct. 24 for starting QB Trevor Lawrence).
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