Clemson Remains No 1 in College Football Playoff Poll

Clemson, S.C.—Clemson remained the No. 1 team in the College Football Playoff poll released on Tuesday evening.  Dabo Swinney’s Tigers have been No. 1 in each of the first two Playoff Polls.   The 12-person committee will determine the four teams that will take part in the second College Football Playoff.  The announcement of the pairings will be at noon on December 6.

Following Clemson in the standings are  Alabama, OhioState and Notre Dame.  If the playoff was started today, Clemson would play Notre Dame in a rematch of the October 3 classic that Clemson won at Memorial Stadium, 24-22.  

Iowa was ranked fifth, followed by Baylor, Stanford, Oklahoma State, LSU and Utah.  Florida is 11^th, followed by Oklahoma, Michigan State, Michigan, and TCU.  Florida State, the team Clemson defeated last Saturday 23-13, is 16^th, followed by Mississippi State, Northwestern, UCLA and Navy.   Memphis is 21^st, followed  by Temple, North Carolina, Houston and Wisconsin.

One of the reasons Clemson is ranked as the No. 1 team is that the Tigers have wins over No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 16 Florida State.  Clemson is the only team in the top 25 with two wins over teams ranked within the top 16. 

Clemson enters Saturday’s game at Syracuse with a 9-0 record, just the third time in school history Clemson has won its first nine games.  The last time was 1981 when Clemson won its only National Championship.   Sunday, Clemson was ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press and No. 2 by the USA Today Coaches poll.