AUSTIN, Texas — Clemson got into the College Football Playoff on a thunderous kick in the final seconds of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.
Texas limped in after a great regular season was deflated by a frustrating overtime loss to Georgia — the Longhorns’ second setback of the season and second against the Bulldogs — in the Southeastern Conference title contest.
Now these two heavyweights meet for the first time with even higher stakes: Their first-round showdown in the newly expanded 12-team CFP on Saturday afternoon in Austin is the first step toward what each hopes is a national championship.
It matters little to Tigers coach Dabo Swinney that a program that was once a CFP regular during its days as a four-team event has to go on the road as the lowest seed in the field at No. 12. The Tigers are just glad to be back in the hunt.
Clemson (10-3) was all but forgotten after a season-opening humiliation at the hands of Georgia in Atlanta, but now it has some swagger and a puncher’s chance of winning the whole thing. Clemson won national titles in 2016 and 2018 but missed the playoff altogether the past four seasons.