South Carolina just gave Clemson a path to playoffs.

The Clemson Tigers received a gift Saturday from an unlikely source. The South Carolina Gamecocks just gave Clemson a path to the playoffs, with an out-of-nowhere beatdown of the Tennessee Volunteers.

This completely eliminates the Vols from playoff consideration.

Now I’m not arguing that Clemson is a playoff-caliber team. I can’t say that until I see a 60-minute game from them on both sides of the ball. Against Miami today we saw one for 30 minutes as Clemson built a 24-0 halftime lead. Then Clemson became a turnover machine in the 3rd quarter and only led 26-10 before pulling away for a 40-10 victory.

In the latest playoff rankings, Clemson is currently ranked 9. They need to jump over 5 teams to reach the playoff.

Here is how it happens.

Tennessee will tumble in the polls probably to 10 or 11. That’s 4 teams left to jump over.

That will move Clemson to 8. South Carolina suddenly becomes a somewhat credible-looking potential win, certainly one that looks more credible after South Carolina destroyed Tennessee.

Here are the steps…

1. Win Out – That’s a given. Clemson must beat South Carolina and North Carolina in the ACCCG. North Carolina will be a ranked win, and South Carolina might be as well if they get ranked after Saturday’s win. Winning out will allow Clemson to overtake Alabama as the Tide have nothing close to a resume-building win left with only Auburn on the schedule left. That’s 3 teams in front.
2. The loser of Ohio State and Michigan (in particular Michigan) won’t have enough of a resume to stay ahead of Clemson. That’s 2 teams left. The loser won’t have looked like a playoff team for weeks, if you caught today’s unimpressive wins by both.
3. Georgia as expected beats LSU in the SEC Championship. That’s 1 team left.
4. Either USC or TCU loses a game, and Clemson just reached the playoffs. Oddly enough Clemson must root for Notre Dame to knock off USC.

Clemson needs help, but it is certainly not as far fetched as it was a few weeks ago.

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