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Clemson thrived in the spoiler role in the ACC Championship Game.
Dabo Swinney’s Tigers used a last-second field goal to defeat SMU, putting the selection committee in a difficult position choosing between SMU and Alabama.
Clemson will likely enter the group as a No. 12 seed. The Tigers started the weekend ranked 17th, two spots behind Big 12 champion Arizona State.
Arizona State and Clemson may not see much upward movement in Sunday’s updated rankings, but as long as the Tigers stay behind the Sun Devils, Clemson will be the No. 12 seed and ASU will receive the final bye to the quarterfinals.
The fate of SMU lies in the hands of the selection committee.
The choice is between a two-loss SMU team with an ACC championship berth and a three-loss Alabama team that was placed ahead of the ACC’s two-loss Miami Hurricanes last week.
The ACC’s fear is that the committee will value the SEC more and that it will erase the difference between two-loss SMU and three-loss Bama.
However, SMU lost a close game and the two losses came against top 25 opponents.
Alabama, on the other hand, has two unranked losses on its record and that could prove to be its downfall compared to SMU.
