It’s win or go home for Clemson and Texas in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday, so you don’t need me to tell you what’s at stake. One team will see its title dreams come to a crashing end at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, and the other will move on to play Arizona State in the quarterfinals.
The big storyline here is obviously the new 12-team CFP and the excitement and matchups it’s created for college football’s postseason, but there are some interesting subplots to follow with Clemson and Texas.
Once a mainstay in the four-team CFP, Clemson and head coach Dabo Swinney had been in a three-year playoff drought that had some wondering whether it was time for the Tigers to split with their two-time national championship-winning coach. This year’s expansion allowed Clemson to sneak back in as the final No. 12 seed after winning the ACC conference championship as a three-loss team. Now, the Tigers are big first-round underdogs.
Texas, on the other hand, has transformed itself into a potential new mainstay in the playoff under Steve Sarkisian, having now qualified for the CFP in consecutive years after never making it before. The No. 5 seed Longhorns are hoping for a better result this year after losing to Washington in last year’s semifinals. Texas is also looking to continue what’s been a wildly successful inaugural season in the SEC.
