MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Until the final few weeks of the regular season, both the Clemson Tigers and Tennessee Volunteers truly believed they would be spending this time of year preparing for the College Football Playoff.
No. 10 Clemson (No. 7 in the CFP rankings) was undefeated until the first week of November and didn’t take its second loss until the final game of the regular season. The Tigers ultimately cruised to an Atlantic Coast Conference championship and finished just a few spots out of playoff position.
No. 6 Tennessee (in AP and CFP rankings) was undefeated until the same day and didn’t take its second loss until the penultimate week of the regular season. The Volunteers beat the then-No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide and finished even closer to to the top four.
When they face each other in Miami Gardens on Dec. 30, it will be — by CFP rankings — the highest-ranked matchup in the Orange Bowl since 2003, not including national championships and playoff games. Clemson and Tennessee, Dabo Swinney figures, are going to deliver a Playoff-caliber spectacle at Hard Rock Stadium.
“To me, this is a playoff game,” the Tigers coach said and then added a maybe-not-so-bold proclamation. “In a couple years, it will be a playoff game.”
Clemson (11-2, 8-0) is a perennial powerhouse and has played in the College Football Playoff (CFP) in six of the last eight years. The Volunteers (10-2, 6-2 Southeastern) are a team on the rise, playing in their first major bowl game since 1999 in Josh Heupel’s second season as Tennessee’s coach.
With the CFP set to expand to 12 teams in 2024, the Tigers and Volunteers are well positioned to be regular fixtures in the playoff.
“Believe and know,” Heupel said, “that we will be in a bunch of these big games here as our program continues to only grow.”
For now, this will be each team’s biggest game in several years.
Clemson is outside the CFP for the second consecutive year, and this game can be a springboard to get back into regular national-title contention, with freshman quarterback likely to start as the Tigers’ quarterback.
Tennessee is all but assured to finished ranked for the first time since the 2016 college football season and in the top 10 for the first time since the 2001 season.
“I’m really proud of the steps we’ve taken in essentially about 22 months,” Heupel said. “It’s an opportunity to take another step as a program.”
Said Swinney: “What Josh has done at Tennessee is incredible. I grew up watching Tennessee. He’s made Tennessee Tennessee again. It’s good and bad because you know they’re really, really talented.”
The game will also present an intriguing clash of styles. The Volunteers are the highest-scoring team in the country at 47.3 points per game, and Clemson’s defense is one of the 20 stingiest, allowing just 20.1 per game. Both teams will use quarterbacks who didn’t start most of the year — Tigers quarterback DJ Uiagalelei entered the transfer portal Monday, and Tennessee star Hendon Hooker tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee last month — and treating the game as important, which isn’t always a given for non-playoff teams.
It’s a real chance for both teams to build momentum into next year, when they both hope they will get into the CFP.
“Postseason’s always important. Only four teams get to go to the playoff,” Swinney said. “This is an opportunity to compete at the highest level. I mean, this is the Orange Bowl. This is one of the greatest traditional bowls in all of college football.”
Above all else, this game is drawing intrigue for a colorful reason — quite literally.
Clemson will wear orange jerseys and white pants for the game later this month, and the Volunteers will also be decked out in plenty of orange, Heupel promised.
There has never been more orange in the Orange Bowl.
“We in South Florida,” Orange Bowl committee CEO Eric Poms said, “are looking forward to painting this community orange as the national spotlight shines bright.”
