J.D. PicKell: How the ACC could get two teams in College Football Playoff

Last season the Big Ten had two teams reach the College Football Playoff, while the previous year the SEC had a pair of teams in the Final 4. On3’s J.D. PicKell believes it’s possible it could be the ACC’s turn to accomplish that feat in 2023.

PicKell isn’t predicting two ACC teams will be in the Final 4 come December, but he also isn’t ruling it out.

“I think we have to get aligned on the idea that there is potentially going to be two teams from the ACC that could find their way into the College Football Playoff,” PicKell said Thursday on The Hard Count.

Those two teams would be Clemson and Florida State as both open the season in the top 10 and are viewed as legit College Football Playoff contenders.

The Seminoles return a loaded roster and added an excellent transfer portal class this offseason, while Clemson also returns plenty of talent and added arguably the best offensive coordinator in college football to its staff in January in TCU‘s Garrett Riley.

According to PicKell, the path that has Florida State and Clemson both reaching the playoff involves the two teams splitting their matchups in 2023.

“The situation would be as follows – Florida State and Clemson, from a roster standpoint, the two best teams in the ACC. And you would expect them to meet in the ACC title game. Again, that’s all preseason talk right now, but you expect them to probably have a rematch in the ACC title game,” PicKell said.

“The world where they could both potentially get in the College Football Playoff is if Florida State and Clemson both run the table – obviously they play Week 4, so one of them’s going to drop that game. But they meet back again in the ACC title… and the team that lost that game Round 1, so let’s say it’s Florida State that beats Clemson that first [game] and then Clemson beats them in the ACC title. And you have two ACC teams with one loss – one was undefeated the rest of the season except for one game, and one is a one-loss ACC champion – they’re going to have a very real argument to be in the College Football Playoff.”

In that scenario, both teams would have impressive out-of-conference wins. Clemson plays Notre Dame and South Carolina this season, while Florida State opens the season with LSU and also faces rival Florida.

“Now you probably need a little bit of help, and a lot of this is very dependent on what other dominoes fall around them. But there are some quality wins out there if that situation does arise, where you have a one-loss ACC champion and a Clemson or Florida State is toting one loss from the other. Clemson, they play Notre Dame. They play South Carolina. Those are two really solid wins,” PicKell said.

“Florida State, Game 1… it’s a playoff kind of game against LSU. If you can win that game it’s a nice feather in the cap. So I think there is a very real support around this argument for them to both potentially make their way in. Now it’s not unrealistic, but we’re also not assuming it’s going to happen.”