CLEMSON — As soon as a 56-yard field goal split the uprights and ACC champion Clemson was on to the College Football Playoff, senior linebacker Barrett Carter retrieved his whiteboard.
Through the years, Carter has scribbled statements on that board after statement wins, including “Our State” after a victory at rival South Carolina in 2023. That was metaphorically erased this year because the Tigers lost to the Gamecocks in the final week of the season.
That loss, along with the opener against Georgia and a flop versus Louisville, had soured most of the country on Clemson. It would be “chaos,” the pundits said, if the three-loss Tigers made the CFP with a win over SMU.
Dabo Swinney will say he doesn’t worry about “narratives,” but Carter’s mind latched onto something his coach had recently said once the ACC title game was won. He scribbled on his whiteboard: “Us Against the World”
“Nobody wants us to be here. Nobody expected us to be here,” Carter said of the CFP’s first round. “But it doesn’t matter what other people say. It’s what we do.”
The oddsmakers aren’t giving No. 12 seed Clemson (10-3) much of a chance to beat No. 5 Texas, on the road, on Dec. 21. The Vegas line currently has the Longhorns as two-score favorites at minus-11.5.
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