The first college football playoff committee ranking of 2024 is upon us. Because the committee is relatively tone-deaf, they are releasing their first rankings of the season on election night. There should be two ACC teams in the top 12. Wake Forest won’t be one of them. But since Demon Deacons head coach Dave Clawson is not one to shy away from big-picture topics, we got his take on what he would say to the committee on behalf of his conference.
The ACC Contenders
The Miami Hurricanes are 9-0 overall and 5-0 in ACC play. The offense has been lighting teams up all season. Quarterback Cam Ward, the transfer from Washington State, leads the nation in passing touchdowns with 29, and he is in the top five of nearly every passing stat category in the country. If he isn’t in the top three of every Heisman voter’s ballot right now, well then there are a lot of questions to be asked.
The SMU Mustangs are in their first season as an ACC team and are playing like they should have been here long ago. SMU is 5-0 in conference play and 8-1 overall. The fact that they are tied for first is a surprise to some, but not all. The one loss was in week three, by three points to BYU. That loss doesn’t look so egregious now considering BYU is one of the few undefeated teams left in the country.
The uptick in Miami came with an early season change at quarterback. Kevin Jennings replaced Preston Stone, and the offense flourished. Jennings is just shy of 2,000 yards passing with 12 touchdown passes. He is also second on the team in rushing with 370 yards.
With conference losses last week, Clemson and Pitt no longer control their own destiny in the ACC race.
The New System
The four highest-seeded conference champions get an automatic bid to the new 12-team playoff. Miami has a clear path to that. The question would be how many ACC teams would get in. With the muscle the SEC and Big 10 have inside the playoff committee, they will each likely get between three and four teams. The more they get, the fewer spots there are for ACC and Big 12 schools.
Extrapolating the current conference standings a few weeks further down the line, Miami and SMU could be the only ACC representatives.
Could there be a third team? Would it be Clemson based on their playoff history over the years? Does Pitt still have any prayer?
Clawson’s Take
Those questions were posed to Clawson. He has a knack for looking beyond his own field of play. Yet, his own emotion of being in the running as recently as the 2021 season has left some scars.
“I was really more excited about these days, four years, three years, and two years ago when we were in those polls,” he said Tuesday. “That’s where I want to be.”
The 2021 season was only three years ago, but it can feel much longer to Clawson. The first playoff poll of the season was released on November 2nd. The undefeated Demon Deacons were ranked ninth, the highest before or since in the playoff era for Wake Forest. The Deacs would go on to finish 10-2 in the regular season and win the ACC Atlantic Division. Wake would lose the conference championship game to Pitt, and then wallop Rutgers in the Gator Bowl. They were pretty heady times in Winston-Salem, and have not been matched in the three years since.
So, you’ll forgive Clawson if for once, if his heart is not into forecasting what the committee should do with his conference teams. “I want to be looking at that poll and find out where Wake Forest is, not where the other ACC schools are.”
Ok, but he is still a “big picture” guy. He has to have some thoughts on the ACC schools as we enter the dawn of a new playoff format. “I hope we can get two schools in the playoffs,” he said. “I think there is a path for that to happen.”
But with Clawson explaining his emotions on Wake’s not-so-long flirtation with the top echelon of the college football world, his next thoughts may not surprise you. “It’s hard for me to watch those right now [the playoff committee ranking shows], knowing we are not even in the conversation. That bothers me.
What’s Left
Miami and SMU do not meet during the regular season this year. Their only matchup would be the conference championship game. And SMU having one loss already could be a long-term hindrance. A second loss could limit the ACC’s access to the 12 spots. Some of it could come down to how BYU plays out the rest of the season.
Clemson and Pitt would likely still be on the outside looking in since they even never made it to the conference championship game as Miami and SMU did.
