The only three-loss team in the College Football Playoff field travels to Austin for its first-round game. The winner gets No. 4 Arizona State in the Peach Bowl.
[More CFP: Tennessee at OSU | SMU at PSU | Indiana at Notre Dame]
No. 12 Clemson (10-3) at No. 5 Texas (11-2)
Time: Noon ET | TV: TNT | Line: Texas -12 | Total: 51.5
How these teams got here
Clemson: The Tigers bottled a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter and then promptly got in position for a game-winning 56-yard field goal by Nolan Hauser to beat SMU 34-31 in the ACC title game. Clemson’s win effectively knocked Alabama out of the playoff. Had SMU won the game, the Mustangs are in as the ACC’s champion and Alabama is in as the last at-large team.
The Tigers were in the ACC title game because two of their three losses came from outside the conference. Clemson lost in Week 1 to Georgia and ended the regular season with a loss to South Carolina. The Tigers’ only ACC loss of the season came at home to Louisville.
Texas: As Clemson has lost to three teams, Texas has only lost to one — twice. Those dang Bulldogs. Georgia took down Texas 30-15 in Austin in October and then beat the Longhorns again in the SEC title game with a 22-19 OT victory.
Texas has looked impressive against most everyone else — a 27-24 win over Vanderbilt was the Longhorns’ only one-possession win of the season — but it’s also fair to say UT didn’t have the toughest schedule. Texas A&M (8-4) is Texas’ best win.
How the QBs stack up
Clemson’s Cade Klubnik has made serious strides in 2024 after a rough first year in Garret Riley’s offense. He’s already thrown for 14 more TDs (from 19 to 33) than he did in 2023 and has thrown for over 450 more yards in 11 fewer attempts. He’s also cut down on his interceptions and has been a dangerous runner when needed. He broke off a game-winning TD against Pitt and has 106 carries for 458 yards and seven scores.
Quinn Ewers’ stats are down a bit in Texas’ first year in the SEC. He’s 233-of-352 passing for 2,665 yards and 25 TDs. He’s thrown nine interceptions after throwing six all season last year. But Texas’ offense has been predicated a lot on short passing and the team hasn’t run the ball as well as it did a season ago either. We’ll likely see Arch Manning in a specific red zone situation on Saturday too. Manning has made appearances in each of Texas’ last two games. He even opened OT for a play against the Bulldogs.
Clemson WR Antonio Williams: The sophomore has at least five catches in each of Clemson’s last six games and hasn’t caught fewer than three passes in a single game all season. Williams is Clemson’s leading receiver with 71 catches for 838 yards and 10 scores. His biggest game of the season came against Pitt, when he had 13 catches for 149 yards and two scores.
Texas WR Matthew Golden: The Houston transfer had eight catches for 162 yards in the SEC title game as he and DeAndre Moore combined to catch 17 of Ewers’ 27 completions. Golden has become Texas’ top wide receiver and has averaged at least 20 yards a catch in three of the Longhorns’ last five games. TE Gunnar Helm leads the Longhorns in receptions, but Golden is right behind with 47 grabs for 738 yards and a team-high eight touchdowns.
Key to the game
If Clemson wants to pull the upset, it’s going to have to get RB Phil Mafah going. Mafah has 214 carries for 1,106 yards this season, but his production has slowed since he rushed 26 times for 128 yards against Virginia Tech on Nov. 9. In the four games since that win, Mafah has 53 carries for 125 yards. Yes, you read that correctly. Texas gives up just over three yards a carry and Georgia (37 carries for 141 yards) was the first team since Florida on Nov. 9 to rush for more than 100 yards against the Longhorns.
