Clemson's Charmin soft schedule could keep Tigers out of the College Football Playoff

You can only control what you can control, but this is not looking good at all for the Clemson Tigers. At 4-1 on the season, and even 3-0 in ACC play, the No. 10 Tigers are probably going to need to win out if they want a serious shot at making the College Football Playoff. This is because their lone loss on the year was a brutal one to Georgia in the non-conference, as well as a soft remaining schedule.

Look. This just sucks for Clemson, but it is the way it is. While we should give them credit for scheduling Georgia, South Carolina and even Appalachian State in the non-conference, their ACC slate is not doing them any favors. They may have big wins over North Carolina State, Stanford and Florida State, but those are all bottom-half teams in the ACC this year. Next up, so is Wake Forest.

If you want to see Clemson's pathway into the playoff, they need to win all of their remaining games.

Of their seven remaining opponents, the only one ranked right now is Pittsburgh. While Pitt has been a pleasant surprise, the Panthers have only played one ACC game, and that was to a North Carolina team on quit watch. Unlike Clemson, the Panthers' remaining schedule is absolutely brutal. It is why their starting quarterback Eli Holstein has a real shot at the Heisman Trophy should Pitt survive this.

Entering Week 7, Clemson has a 36.3-percent chance of making the playoff, the 14th best in FBS.

Clemson has to overcome weak remaining schedule to get into playoff

The good news for Clemson is I think the Tigers will win their seven remaining regular-season games. At Pitt will be tricky. Maybe South Carolina will be chomping at the bit for the Gamecocks' Super Bowl? There might be one other game among the other five that could sneak up on Clemson, but don't count on it. At this time, their most formidable challenger will be waiting for them in Charlotte.

Right now, I would say that between Clemson, Miami and SMU, two of the three will be getting to the ACC Championship with an automatic qualifier bid into the expanded College Football Playoff on the line. Miami hasn't lost yet. SMU's lone loss was to BYU by a field goal in the non-conference. Since the Hurricanes and the Mustangs don't play each other this year, they could go 8-0 in ACC this season.

If that were the case, what do you do if Clemson does the same? It is beyond wild that all three could go undefeated in conference play, but one won't even be allowed to play for a conference championship. All things equal, Miami gets in because the Hurricanes would be undefeated at 12-0. When it comes down to picking between Clemson and SMU, I don't even know what the tiebreaker is...

So follow me on this... If SMU got to Charlotte over Clemson and the Mustangs lost to Miami to be 11-2 (8-0) on the season, I don't know if you can keep them out of the playoff picture. Their two losses would be to the ACC champion and a potential Big 12 champion in BYU. Should it flip and Clemson gets in over SMU and loses to Miami, they would be 11-2 with two great losses, but not a quality win.

The fact SMU is moving up from the Group of Five and is in the midst of his first year in the ACC, that should be something working in their favor, as opposed to against them in the eyes of the Selection Committee. Not everyone's path to the playoff will look the same. While a loss in the ACC title bout could be overcome, another regular season loss has Clemson's chances of getting in on life support.

If Clemson went 10-2 (7-1), the Tigers would almost have to get to Charlotte and win the ACC to get in as the No. 4 seed. Simply put, the Tigers are not getting in as an at-large team at 10-2. Even if they were to beat a serious ACC contender in Pitt, that would require a loss to a lesser team to finish 10-2. Clemson is winning big with style points. I will give them that. I just see they have no margin for error.

The worst part about it is whoever beats Clemson will be rewarded for it, not the other way around.