After being asked during his postgame presser how important Clemson’s 38-3 win at South Carolina on Nov. 30 was, head coach Dabo Swinney went on a rant about how some pundits did not want Clemson in the College Football Playoff.

“It’s huge from a national standpoint because, obviously, if we lose this game they’re going to kick us out,” Swinney said. “They don’t want us in there anyway.”

Well, Swinney and the Tigers have bad news for those people – Clemson is back in the playoff again, and that spells trouble for the other teams in the top four.

Clemson (13-0) locked up a spot in the CFP with its 62-17 win against Virginia in Saturday’s ACC Championship Game and checked in at No. 3 in the final CFP rankings released today. The Tigers will play No. 2 Ohio State (13-0) in the CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl, and the winner will advance to play the winner of the semifinal vs. No. 1 LSU and No. 4 Oklahoma at the Peach Bowl.

Lawrence, who threw for 302 yards and an ACC title game-record four touchdown passes, told ESPN’s Maria Taylor in their postgame interview that he feels the Tigers might be even better this season than the 2018 team which went 15-0 and won the national title.

“I think it’s hard to compare,” he said. “I think we are better in some areas, and then obviously we had some great players last year. But the way we’re playing and how consistently we’ve been playing, I think we might be.”

Early in the season after Clemson escaped with a one-point win at North Carolina on Sept. 28, many college football analysts wrote off the Tigers and discounted their chances of defending their national title.

However, by the end of the season, Clemson became the team that nobody wanted to play in the CFP. One of the reasons the race between LSU and Ohio State for the No. 1 spot was so important is because the top-ranked team figured to avoid having to face the Tigers in a playoff semifinal.

Clemson is No. 1 in the country in both scoring defense (10.6 points per game) and total defense (244.7 yards per game) while also ranking No. 4 nationally in scoring offense (4.65 points per game) and No. 3 in total offense (547.7 yards per game).

On Saturday, Clemson extended its active streak of wins by 30 or more points to eight to break the longest streak in the AP Poll era (since 1936). Per ESPN Stats & Info, Clemson had previously been tied with 2011 Houston and 1976 Michigan at seven each.

This year will mark Clemson’s fifth straight appearance in the College Football Playoff since 2015, and the Tigers will try to join Notre Dame (1946-49), Nebraska (1994-97) and Alabama (2009-12) as the fourth team in the AP Poll era (since 1936) to win three national titles in a span of four seasons.

Put some Clemson on your Christmas Tree this year. Clemson Christmas Decorations from Clemson Variety & Frame