Clemson is effectively a shoo-in to crack the College Football Playoff at the end of the year.

The Tigers have missed out on the 4-team field just twice since its inception in 2014-15. Part of the reasoning behind that is the relative ease it takes to go undefeated with their schedule.

OK, maybe “ease” is not the right word. The Tigers have beaten 3 ranked teams this season, after all. That is, if you count NC State, Wake Forest and Syracuse as upper echelon wins.

But Clemson has found its way into the playoff having to do far less than the Georgias, Michigans and Ohio States of the world. With the might of the B1G and SEC in recent years, it’s just hard to gauge whether or not the Tigers are truly on the same tier as the top dogs until the playoff.

FOX college football analyst Joel Klatt agrees. On Tuesday, Klatt theorized that the Tigers would finish 3rd if they were in the SEC East or B1G East and wouldn’t be sniffing the postseason.

“There’s no part of me that thinks Clemson could finish any higher than 3rd in the SEC East or the B1G East,” Klatt said.” …Do we really think Clemson is better than Ohio State or Michigan? I don’t. Do we think they’re better than Georgia or Tennessee? I don’t. There’s no way in the world they would win the B1G this year, there’s no way in the world they’d win the SEC.”

And still, barring an unlikely upset to Notre Dame at night or Shane Beamer’s South Carolina squad at the end of the year, the Tigers will be back in the field.

Do you agree with Klatt?