Where Clemson Tigers Stand Ahead of Sunday's Bowl Game Selection

Conference championship weekend finished up this Saturday, and the Clemson Tigers are several hours away from finding out where their bowl game is going to be.

After Duke’s win over Virginia in the ACC Championship, the ACC is up in the air for having a team in the 12-team College Football Playoff. Duke, an 8-5 team, is not projected to make the postseason compared to the likes of James Madison and Tulane. At-large bid, Miami may also not see the 12-team playoff for the first time in program history.

According to ESPN, senior writer Mark Schlabach and staff writer Kyle Bonagura gave their predictions for where Clemson could end up, leaving two potential spots for the Tigers to end up playing at the end of December.

Both locations are in the northeast, with one against another opponent who was expected to make the College Football Playoff, but fell short of expectations. Schlabach believes that Clemson will be traveling to Yankee Stadium in New York for the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl, playing the Penn State Nittany Lions in the ACC and Big 10 matchup. Penn State began the year as the No. 2 team in the entire country before a 6-6 record this season.

Confirmed by On3 earlier on Saturday, Big 10 spots were already selected, and the Nittany Lions will be playing in the bowl game on Dec. 27. However, the turmoil ahead of the ACC Championship was the reason that Clemson did not have its bowl game yet, and will most likely find out after the College Football Playoff field is revealed.

Bonagura has Clemson going to Boston for the Wasabi Fenway Bowl, playing the Army Black Knights in an annual matchup between the ACC team and a team from the American Athletic Conference. Army is 6-5 ahead of its annual game against Navy next weekend.

Other bowl games that have been mentioned for head coach Dabo Swinney and his team to take have been the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl and the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, located in Tampa, Florida, and El Paso, Texas, respectively. However, teams like Pitt, Wake Forest and NC State have accompanied those bowl games, according to ESPN’s projections.

A lot will depend on where the Tigers will end up ahead of the bowl game slate, beginning in under a week. Looking at how many ACC teams make the Playoff and who is left out will create the domino effect that Clemson has been looking for to find out its destination for the final game of the season.

Clemson Tigers on SI will have coverage throughout Sunday’s madness of bowl game selections. We also do not know which players are opting out, if there are any, as none have been confirmed as of Sunday morning.

Sunday’s selection show will take place at noon on ESPN, while Clemson’s bowl game selection will be revealed shortly after.