While most of the college football world was wringing its hands over the exclusion of unbeaten ACC champion Florida State from the College Football Playoffs, players and fans in our state were keeping an eye on the bowl destinations for Clemson and Coastal Carolina.
The Chanticleers trip to the Hawaii Bowl was confirmed earlier this week, but Dabo Swinney’s bunch had to wait until Sunday afternoon to learn about their postseason trip. And while projections had the Tigers possibly reuniting with former quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei and Oregon State in the Holiday Bowl, Clemson will be playing a good bit closer to home. The Tigers, who finished 24th in the CFP rankings, will meet SEC foe Kentucky in the Gator Bowl on Friday, December 29th. It will be Clemson’s 10th appearance in the game annually played in Jacksonville, Florida.
After falling out of the ACC title race with two straight losses in October, the Tigers righted the ship and finished the season on a roll. Clemson was 4-0 in November, capping off the year with a 16-7 win over South Carolina.
Kentucky will be making its third appearance in Jacksonville, having also played in the Gator Bowl in 2016 and 2021. The Wildcats finished the regular season 7-5 with a 38-31 win over Louisville in the regular season finale. UK actually opened the season 5-0 before stumbling to a 2-5 finish.
Meanwhile, after starting the season in Los Angeles with a 27-13 loss at UCLA, the Chanticleers will conclude their season even further west against San Jose State in the Hawai’i Bowl on December 23rd. It will be the fourth consecutive year that Coastal has participated in a bowl game after dropping a 53-29 decision to East Carolina in last year’s Birmingham Bowl. Winners of five of its last seven games, CCU ranks 13th nationally in defensive touchdowns (3), 14th in interceptions (14), 15th in completion percentage (.671), and 17th in turnovers gained (21).
San Jose State (7-5) is going bowling for the second straight season. The Spartans placed ten players on the All-Mountain West Conference team while leading the conference in turnover margin (+13) and ranking second in the league in total defense and pass defense.