Where Is Clemson in Heather Dinich’s Latest Playoff Predictions?

This week, ESPN’s Heather Dinich released her updated predictions for this year’s College Football Playoff (subscription required) heading into Week 3 of the season.

Dinich, ESPN’s lead College Football Playoff insider, gave her latest projections for the 12-team CFP field and eight teams on the bubble.

After the lopsided season-opening loss to Georgia, Dinich didn’t list Clemson among the teams in the playoff mix.

Now, following Clemson’s rout of App State last Saturday, Dinich’s “CFP Bubble Watch” has the Tigers (1-1) as one of the first four teams on the outside looking in.

“The Tigers took a lot of heat after the loss to Georgia, and they took it out on App State 66-20,” Dinich wrote. “While Clemson isn’t on par with the SEC’s top team, it’s certainly good enough to win a watered-down ACC. In fact, ESPN Analytics likes Clemson to win the league over both Louisville and Miami at 27.5%.”

Right now, along with Clemson, Dinich’s first four teams out of the playoff include Missouri, Kansas State and Utah, with the next four out after that being Oklahoma, LSU, Michigan and Boise State.

Dinich’s current projected 12-team playoff field features Georgia (No. 1), Ohio State (No. 2), Miami (No. 3) and Oklahoma State (No. 4) as the top 4 seeds (first-round byes).

As things stand now, Dinich’s projected first-round matchups (on campus) are Northern Illinois (No. 12 seed) at Texas (No. 5); Penn State (No. 9) at Oregon (No. 8); Tennessee (No. 11) at Ole Miss (No. 6); and Alabama (No. 10) at Southern Cal (No. 7).

Of course, this is the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff, which will feature the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams, as determined by the CFP Selection Committee.

The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and receive first-round byes, with the fifth highest-ranked conference champion being seeded where it was ranked, or at No. 12 if its final ranking lands outside of the top 12.

Clemson is looking to get back in the CFP this year after missing the playoff each of the last three seasons, following six straight playoff appearances in the four-team field from 2015-20.