Heather Dinich dashes Clemson's College Football Playoff hopes after Duke loss

Since the College Football Playoff replaced the Bowl Championship Series in 2014, no team has made it to the national semifinal after losing its first game of the season. That’s why Clemson’s loss to Duke on Monday night could seriously hurt’ the No. 9-ranked Tigers’ CFP hopes.

It’s why, according to ESPN’s Heather Dinich, the loss was bad on multiple fronts for Clemson and Dabo Swinney.

Dinich joined Paul Finebaum and Mike Greenberg on Get Up Tuesday morning to discuss the implications of the Tigers’ 28-7 loss to the Blue Devils. While there’s a notion that losing a game like that early in the season is the time to do it, she pointed out the small margin of error for Clemson’s hopes of making the College Football Playoff.

“I’m not sure it is the right time to do it, Greeny, because no team has ever lost their season opener and gone on to make the Playoff,” Dinich said. “And I would also add that no two-loss team has ever made the College Football Playoff. So what does it mean? It means we shouldn’t be talking about Clemson as a College Football Playoff team right now because Greeny, if you go to ESPN.com and look at the top 25 Power Rankings that were posted last night, Colorado is ahead of Clemson.

“Let me say that again. Colorado — which won one football game last year — is ahead of Clemson and ESPN.com’s top 25. That tells you all you need to know right now about where the Clemson Tigers are.”

Heather Dinich: ‘Florida State is the team to beat in the ACC’

There’s also a pivotal showdown looming in a couple weeks that could determine a lot about the landscape. Clemson will welcome Florida State on Sept. 23. The Seminoles are coming off a huge win over another team with CFP aspirations, cruising past LSU 45-23 on Sunday night.

So while Clemson has reasons to hope things could improve — Cade Klubnik is still settling in to his new role as starting quarterback — Dinich said Florida State has proven it’s being chased by the rest of the ACC. It adds to the pressure on the Tigers to look sharper when FSU comes to town.

“Cade Klubnik is a good quarterback who is going to get better,” Dinich said. “This was his first game on the field right there as the starter full-time, and they have a chance to prove something against Florida State at home on Sept. 23.

“But anyone in the right mind who watched FSU against LSU and Clemson against Duke is crazy if they are picking Clemson to win that game right now based on what we saw. Florida State is the team to beat right now in the ACC.”

Clemson has two more games to get the train back on the tracks, starting with a Week 2 matchup against Charleston Southern.