Why undefeated Clemson isn't playoff worthy

If you ever want to make Clemson coach Dabo Swinney mad — really mad — you only need to say one word:

“Clemsoning”

Swinney hates the term, which is loosely defined as losing to a team that you were supposed to beat in spectacular and surprising ways.

Over the past few years, Swinney has done his best to defeat that reputation. His Tigers, one of the nation’s premier programs and a preseason favorite to go back to the College Football Playoff this season, entered Saturday’s game having beaten 44 straight unranked opponents.

Make that 45.

The most recent edition was hardly assertive, though — in fact, if not for North Carolina State’s kicker missing a game-winning field goal wide right as time expired in regulation, it would have been a 'Clemsoning.'

Sorry, Dabo.

Saturday’s 24-17 overtime win was the second close call to an inferior opponent for Clemson at home this year.

Whether it was beating Troy by six or going to overtime with N.C. State by virtue of turning the ball over with three fumbles, a pick-six and that missed field goal, Clemson’s season has been defined more by the survivals than the successes.

It’s hard to imagine that’s what the College Football Playoff committee is looking for in its effort to fill out the four-team field.

At times, it seemed as if North Carolina State was roundly outplaying the Tigers on Saturday, just as Troy outplayed them a few weeks back.

Clemson was the runner-up to the national championship last year, and it returned critical players from one of the best offenses in the nation this year — but things have not clicked too often in 2016.

It’s incongruent — the Tigers have wins over Auburn and Louisville this season, they’ve posted beat-downs on Boston College and Georgia Tech. They’re 7-0 on the campaign, but they don’t seem like a playoff team — not at the moment, at least.

There are certainly four better teams in the nation at the moment — you can make the argument that one of those teams is Louisville — and while the bar might be set unfairly high for the Tigers, the playoff field is selected subjectively and expectations matter.

Redemption could be right around the corner for Clemson — it'll play at Florida State after a next week’s bye.

Win that, and Clemson should have a clear path to winning out the regular season — the Tigers can prove that they’re worthy of a Final Four spot — Pitt (Nov. 12) is the toughest team remaining on the schedule.

Then again, with Clemson, the easiest path can be treacherous.