Will Clemson Make the 12-Team CFP? Rece Davis Gives Prediction

With the 2024 college football season just days away from kicking off, ESPN’s Rece Davis and Pete Thamel weighed in on which teams they see making the College Football Playoff in the inaugural year of the 12-team playoff format.

In an episode of The College GameDay Podcast , Davis predicted Clemson to win the ACC Championship this season and return to the playoff for the first time since 2020.

However, the College GameDay host believes reigning ACC champion Florida State will win its home matchup against Clemson during the regular season on Oct. 5, and that the Seminoles will earn a playoff spot (at-large bid) along with the Tigers (top-four seed as conference champion).

“I’m going to say the three-seed and ACC champion – reports of their demise have been greatly exaggerated, and the rest of y’all going to come on in on the ‘ROY bus’ and watch the Clemson Tigers come back to the playoff as the ACC champion,” Davis said.

“I think Florida State wins the regular season game against Clemson because it’s in Tallahassee. Rematch, two really good teams, Clemson wins the rematch because Clemson will be desperate to get in, and Florida State will already have a spot sealed up. I think both teams make the playoff.”

Clemson, of course, kicks off the upcoming season against Georgia in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 31 (12 p.m., ABC).

Although Davis said he thinks the Bulldogs will beat the Tigers, he expects Clemson to “give Georgia everything they want” in the season-opening showdown.

“I think Clemson, with improved offense – and again, this is a little bit of a gamble, too. Because if they don’t get better quarterback play from Cade Klubnik, and if they don’t get better offensive line play than they’ve really had in the last few years, this is going to be another bad pick,” Davis said.

“But I’m gambling that you’re going to see some improvement in both of those areas in the second year under Garrett Riley. They’ve got a lot of guys coming back on offense. Offensive line, they’ve got four of their starters back. They’ve got a wrecking ball at running back, Phil Mafah. They’ve got some young receivers coming in that they’re really high on — wide receiver freshman called Bryant Wesco that they like, T.J. Moore another freshman guy that they like. They have Tyler Brown back from last year and Antonio Wiliams returning from injury. Don’t worry about their defense. Their defense is going to be excellent, especially up front.”

So what if Davis’ prediction proves true, and Dabo Swinney’s team is competing in the playoff at season’s end?

“Can you imagine what it’s going to be like if Clemson does what I just predicted? Think of Dabo in the first College Football Playoff news conference — ‘Yeah, poor little ole Clemson, we got here and we didn’t have any transfers.’ … I think they’re loaded, man,” Davis said.

“The question is offense, the question is quarterback and offensive line, and they still need some skill guys, they need those freshmen. Those freshmen receivers particularly that I mentioned, they have to be able to make plays down the field.”

While Davis is picking Clemson to win the ACC, Thamel is going in the other direction and thinks FSU will be the ACC’s lone representative in the playoff as the conference champ.

“Part of the reason why Florida State has emerged as the best recent program in the ACC is because they have used the portal as a weapon,” Thamel said. “They had 10 players drafted last year. How many were in the portal? Nine. … That is great program management, great evaluation, great buy-in, great culture. There’s nothing negative about Florida State. Florida State out-smarted everybody.”

The 12-team playoff format, which is set for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, 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.

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