The Orange Bowl matchup is officially set.

Clemson clinched its first trip to South Beach since 2015 with its ACC title game rout of North Carolina late Saturday night. On Sunday, the Tigers’ opponent was revealed.

As expected, that will be Tennessee.

The Orange Bowl takes the highest-ranked SEC or Big Ten team that’s not in the College Football Playoff, Sugar Bowl or Rose Bowl. That left Ohio State, Alabama and Tennessee — fifth, sixth and seventh in last week’s CFP rankings, respectively — as the primary group of possible Orange Bowl opponents heading into the weekend.

But Utah’s upset of then-No. 4 Southern Cal in the Pac-12 championship game moved Ohio State into the playoff, and Kansas State created further drama when it knocked off then-No. 3 TCU in Saturday’s Big 12 championship game. But TCU, which was previously undefeated, remained in the top 4 of the final CFP rankings released today.

Since the SEC’s champ, top-ranked Georgia, is also in the playoff, Alabama will represent that conference in the Sugar Bowl, leaving Tennessee to fill the other Orange Bowl slot. It will be Clemson’s first time playing Tennessee since 2004 and its first bowl matchup with an SEC team since facing LSU in the CFP title game at the end of the 2019 season.

Tennessee finished the regular season at 10-2. The Volunteers handled Vanderbilt their last time out.

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!