The Clemson football team was given new life yet again on Saturday evening, when Syracuse stunningly sent the Tigers to the ACC title game with an upset win over Miami.

Just hours earlier, it appeared Clemson (9-3) had been knocked out of contention for the College Football Playoff with its 17-14 loss to South Carolina. But now, it’s once again all in front of the Tigers, who have another chance to take things into their own hands – if they beat SMU (11-1) in Saturday’s ACC Championship Game, the Tigers will earn an automatic bid to the new 12-team playoff as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions.

“This is a big cat with nine lives,” ACC Network analyst Eric Mac Lain said of the Tigers during ACCN’s ACC Huddle show.

“They were out of it for the Louisville game (33-21 loss to Louisville on Nov. 2), then they’re somehow back in. Out of it after this game (vs. South Carolina), then three hours later, square back in, controlling your own destiny – win the ACC Championship, you’re in the playoff.”

For that to happen, Mac Lain, the former Clemson standout and All-ACC offensive lineman, added “there’s a lot of issues” that the Tigers need to fix – starting on the defensive side of the ball.

South Carolina piled up 432 total yards against Clemson, including 268 rushing yards. LaNorris Sellers’ legs plagued the Tigers all afternoon, as the Gamecock quarterback ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries, most of which were on scrambles.

“There’s a lot of issues, there’s a lot of things, and again, it always kind of stems from the inconsistencies,” Mac Lain said.

“And to me, it’s defense and it was the lack of adjustments. You have a quarterback that everyone knew coming into this game, especially after (Clemson) giving up nearly 250 yards rushing to The Citadel, that this was going to be a problem, that this guy was gonna run the ball. And throughout the entire game, I did not see any adjustments… We were talking all day – rushers screaming upfield, creating all kinds of angles. Lack of discipline, lack of technique, lack of adjustments has literally almost ended your season three times.”

The ACC Championship at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte is set to kick off at 8 p.m. Saturday and will be televised on ABC.