How This Weekend's Results Affect the Clemson Tigers in the ACC

With an exciting weekend in college football finished, the Clemson Tigers were able to see a clearer picture of their conference.

The Clemson Tigers are the defending ACC champions, but the odds are against them for having a chance to defend their crown. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

The Clemson Tigers were on the bye week this week, but that doesn’t mean that things have adjusted inside of their conference. 

Week 5 of college football was perhaps the most wild yet. Four top 10 teams lost and every conference saw a flash of chaos that shook up the standings. The ACC was one of those conferences, seeing scares and surprises that changed the outlook of the conference. 

Clemson has two losses in the ACC this year, making it almost impossible to see a chance at the ACC Championship, but losses fell in its favor. The big loss the conference saw was No. 8 Florida State falling to Virginia on Friday night. 

The Tigers see the Seminoles in November at Memorial Stadium, making that game a potential title-eliminator if Clemson is able to gain a tiebreaker over the highly-rated foe. 

The loss against Syracuse will trend to be worse than expected. The Orange saw their first ACC defeat in a 38-3 blowout against Duke on Saturday afternoon, remembering how the loss affects Clemson. Head coach Dabo Swinney and the team will play the Blue Devils on Nov. 1 at home.

Wake Forest pushed Georgia Tech almost to the brink, but the Yellow Jackets converted another fire drill field goal as the clock expired to force overtime. Georgia Tech would then stop a game-winning two-point conversion to win the game. 

Because the Tigers lost to the Yellow Jackets two weeks ago, they will not have the tiebreaker. This means that Georgia Tech needs three losses instead of two, and it avoided one on Saturday. 

Clemson also needs to win out in its last six ACC contests this season to have a chance to play for a postseason spot. Chances remain slim with ESPN’s FPI keeping the team at a 0.2% chance to make the game. 

A number that has changed against the Tigers was the team’s expected chance to make a bowl game. Last week, Clemson had a 57.2% chance to win six games, but it now sees a 45.8% chance to win that amount. 

The numbers change from performances by its future opponents. Despite the Florida State loss, Duke, Louisville and South Carolina all had impressive performances that added another win to their records. Efforts from Syracuse perhaps contributed as well. 

Many teams in the conference have started strong. Georgia Tech, Duke and Virginia are all 2-0, and undefeated teams like Miami and Louisville have both begun their campaigns on the right foot. The slow start put Clemson in a rough position, although it can contribute to wins against future opponents. 

Especially with the season beginning to pick out the contenders and pretenders, it was an important weekend for Clemson fans to see where they measured up with the rest of the ranks of college football. However, the analytics are against the team, which has a steep uphill battle to make either a bowl game or a conference championship.