Updated Bowl Projection After Clemson's Blowout Win at North Carolina

The Clemson Tigers are coming off their best performance of the season, blowing out Bill Belichick’s Tar Heels in dominating fashion on Saturday.

CBS Sports released their latest College Football Playoff and bowl projections following Week 6, and although they are likely out of the playoff race, the Tigers find themselves in solid bowl game contention.

In the projection metric, Clemson is slated to face the Oklahoma Sooners, who are sniffing the AP Top Five right now at No. 6 in the nation, in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on Dec. 27 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla.

The Gator Bowl features an ACC vs. SEC matchup every year, with last year’s edition hosting Duke and Ole Miss. Considering the level at which 5-0 Oklahoma is currently playing, this should be viewed as somewhat of a positive for the Tigers, who are trying to rebound from a rather disappointing start to the season.

Clemson sits at 2-3 after a massive 38-10 victory over an abysmal North Carolina squad, and now looks to show some promising signs heading into the second half of the year.

Senior quarterback Cade Klubnik hasn’t lived up to preseason expectations thus far, but looked exceptional in Chapel Hill on Saturday. He went 22-of-24 passing for 254 yards and four touchdowns, which tallied to an impressive 96.4 quarterback rating, per ESPN. Clemson’s offense came out firing on all cylinders, as Klubnik opened the game 8-for-8 for 135 yards and two touchdowns prior to his first incompletion.

The Tigers look completely different on both sides of the football, including their defense. Clemson allowed a season low in total yards (270) and rushing yards (57) and forced UNC to punt five times in the first half, including four straight three-and-outs. North Carolina didn’t find the endzone until midway through the fourth quarter, and that lone touchdown came against Clemson’s backups.

Although the Tigers remain under .500, Dabo Swinney and company have generated great momentum, and the next few upcoming games on their schedule look somewhat manageable.

Clemson travels to Boston College next weekend before returning home to host SMU and Duke. The Golden Eagles boast a 1-4 overall record and sit dead last in the ACC at 0-3 in conference play, while SMU is 3-2 with one conference win over Syracuse – a team that virtually handled Clemson in Death Valley a few weeks ago – on Saturday.

Duke appears to be one of the best teams in the ACC, currently tied with Virginia for first place at 3-0 in conference play. The Blue Devils are 4-2 overall with losses to Illinois and Tulane, but one of their victories contains a 38-3 beatdown of Syracuse.

Clemson’s schedule gets slightly tougher as it gets into November with No. 25 Florida State at home, a Friday night clash at Louisville, and a road trip to South Carolina to close the year still in front of the Tigers.

Nonetheless, Clemson has multiple opportunities to turn this season around and ultimately clinch a respectable bowl game. Obviously, a “respectable bowl game” is well below the standards that are in place at Clemson, but considering how they have looked in the first four weeks, attaining eight wins, for example, may not be viewed as a total failure.

If Swinney can continue to build on this success, Klubnik is able to return to late 2024 form, and Tom Allen’s defense utilizes its future NFL talent to the best of its ability, Clemson could end the season with eight or nine wins, plus a potential bowl victory.