On Tuesday evening, the fifth version of the College Football Playoff rankings were released. These rankings are the ones that matter from here on out, as the teams who play for a National Championship in the College Football Playoff are determined by this set of rankings.

Entering today’s announcement, the Hurricanes were ranked 7th in the Coaches Poll and 7th in the AP Poll. The Canes dropped to 7th after spending 2 weeks at 2nd in both polls (and also 2nd in the CFP rankings last week) after laying an egg on the way to a 24-14 loss to an objectively bad Pittsburgh Panthers team on Black Friday.

After having their undefeated record end with the first loss since October 29, 2016, the Canes fell from 2nd to 7th in this week’s College Football Playoff Rankings.

While that fall is bad — losing isn’t good, you guys — it’s not the end of the road. As you see above, the Clemson Tigers ascended to the top spot in the CFP rankings this week after Alabama and Miami, previously ranked 1 and 2, lost last weekend. So, that means that Miami will face the #1 team in America in Saturday night’s ACC Championship game.

Now, it’s not a guarantee that Miami would be in the College Football Playoff if they were to beat Clemson on Saturday, but there is a very good chance they would be. Should Miami beat Clemson, they would have wins over 3 top-13 ranked teams, including #3 Notre Dame and #1 Clemson.

Additionally, I can’t foresee any way a 1-loss ACC Champion is left out of the CFP this season.

So, just like before, the goal and motto remain the same:

Beat Clemson.

Go Canes