Sagarin SOS rankings: ND 42, Clemson 48

And FSU was on both teams' schedules, so their disappointing season rates a wash. Clemson's relative SOS was helped more by the fact that their USC was better than ND's -- South Carolina is ranked 28th versus 47th for Southern Cal. Virginia Tech (63rd) also hurt ND's SOS, although Louisville (113th) was much worse for Clemson. One of Clemson's less-exalted opponents, Georgia Southern, rated a semi-respectable 86th.

This is an extremely unusual bowl matchup, in that the teams have 4 common opponents -- all ACC teams on ND's schedule except Virginia Tech. This is how the non-common opponents match up.

Clemson:
Furman---145
Texas A&M---17
Ga. Southern---86
Georgia Tech---38
NC State---26
Louisville---113
Boston College---40
Duke---59
South Carolina---28

ND:
Michigan---4
Ball State---131
Vanderbilt---51
Stanford---23
Virginia Tech---63
Navy---105
Northwestern---37
Southern Cal---47