Clemson is paying how much to beat up on The Citadel? Cost of Week 13 buy game

The No. 17 Clemson Tigers (8-2) were in the midst of a tight ACC title hunt just a month ago. Now, with just two games remaining the team is on the outside looking in but hope is not all lost.

No. 13 SMU and No. 8 Miami stand ahead of them in the conference standings and both have increased (albeit slight) chances of faltering in Week 13, which would open the door to Clemson re-entering the ACC title race.

The Tigers will be playing in-state neighbors The Citadel (5-6) on Saturday and a game against an FCS foe is practically an auto-win. The Bulldogs will receive $475,000 for making the 240 mile trip West and likely getting pounded. The two teams will meet again in 2028 as part of the scheduling agreement, a matchup that happens almost annually.

Clemson's buy game comes at the best time for its CFP hopes

The ACC typically has a few teams involved in early-season marquee matchups and Clemson is almost always one of them. This year, the Tigers faced Georgia in Week 1 and Appalachian State in Week 2 before moving on to it's ACC schedule.

Now, Clemson's Week 13 and 14 games are both non-conference matchups which begs the question: Why do they get the extra buy game?

The short answer: Thank the SEC. Because it only has eight conference games compared to most other Power Conference's nine, the SEC has an extra non-conference game - usually reserved for an early-season marquee matchup. In this case: Georgia v. Clemson in Week 1.

Therefore, the Tigers get the extra week to include a buy game (The Citadel) and it happened to fit in the latter portion of their season. Great timing considering they need a win to stay in the tight ACC and CFP race.