Importance of Clemson vs. Appalachian State in Group of Five College Football Playoff race

A Group of Five program will be in this year’s College Football Playoff, no matter what. Expanding to a 12-team addition means a conference champion will get in and compete for a national championship. Plenty of candidates are out there but Appalachian State feels like they have an opportunity to make some noise.

No bigger chance to cement itself as a CFP contender than Week 2 against the Clemson Tigers . App State will head to Death Valley on Sept. 7 in what will be the biggest matchup on their schedule. On3’s Kaiden Smith sees it as an opportunity nobody else in the G5 will have this season.

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“I think App State might have one of the better opportunities, compared to all these other teams,” Smith said during Wednesday’s episode of Andy Staples On3 . “Compared to their pedigree and what Clemson might look like this year. There’s some question marks around Cade Klubnik .”

A lot of questions will be answered about Klubnik and Clemson as a whole on Saturday. The Tigers have a massive showdown against Georgia on tap, scheduled for noon ET in Atlanta. Many are expecting Kirby Smart’s team to cover a two-touchdown spread but Clemson can make a statement by taking down the recent two-time national championship.

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But which result would be better for Appalachian State the following week? Smith believes getting Clemson fresh off a fistfight would be the most beneficial in order to pull off an upset.

“What App State fans want to see is a close, physical game,” Smith said. “I think if this game looks like the Clemson-Georgia games of a couple years ago that went really down to the wire… Obviously, they’ll be a little more motivated if they get beat up by Georgia in this matchup. At the end of the day, if (Clemson) is beat up physically, I think that’s what App State fans are going to want more than anything.”

Cincinnati is the lone G5 time to make the CFP in the four-team era, occurring in 2021. The Bearcats had two wins against Power Five opponents, taking down Indiana and most notably, Notre Dame . Winning in South Bend wound up being the difference as Cincinnati finished a spot ahead of Notre Dame in the final Playoff rankings.

Appalachian State will have a clearer path to CFP inclusion than Cincinnati, with a conference championship potentially getting the job done. However, beating Clemson would go a long way and presumably provide the best G5 win we see in college football this year.

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