A consensus of online betting sites has established Clemson as the ACC team most likely to play its way into the College Football Playoff this season. The Tigers are 4th among those betting sites behind only Alabama, Ohio State and reigning national champion Georgia.

The choice makes sense given Clemson’s championship pedigree, the abundance of future NFL draft picks on its roster and its status as the preseason ACC favorite.

It’s also no surprise that at No. 17 on the list, Miami has the second-best odds.

The Hurricanes continue to be darlings of the college football illuminati, even though they’ve gone the better part of two decades without living up to those high expectations. The hype level has been raised even higher this year with the arrival of coach Mario Cristobal, a former Miami offensive lineman with two national title rings on his fingers.

North Carolina and N.C. State also made the list. But you have to scroll much farther down, all the way to No. 30, to find the ACC team other than Clemson that has the most reasonable path to one of the national semifinals on New Year’s Eve.

It’s the reigning conference champion Pittsburgh Panthers.

While the road to the CFP might not run directly through the Steel City, coach Pat Narduzzi and his team won’t have to drive far up the Pennsylvania Turnpike to find an on-ramp.

They nearly got there a season ago.

Only 7 points – 3 in an inexplicable nonconference loss to Western Michigan and 4 in an ACC setback against Miami – separated the Panthers from an undefeated regular season and a potential shot at a playoff berth.

Even though they’re being overlooked by virtually everyone, including voters in the ACC’s preseason poll who picked them to finish second behind Miami, their schedule for the upcoming season lends itself to championship consideration if they’re able to take care of business.

It will begin with winnable home nonconference games against high-profile Power 5 opponents in backyard rival West Virginia and a Tennessee team they beat in Knoxville last season. Then barring another letdown disaster against Western Michigan or Rhode Island, they’ll face a favorable ACC slate that avoids cross-over Atlantic Division powers Clemson and N.C. State.

Considering the relative strength of the Coastal Division with its 4 new coaches, it’s not unreasonable to think that Pitt could run the table heading into a final-week showdown at Miami with a trip to the conference title game on the line.

It’s an ambitious goal Narduzzi isn’t shy about setting for his team, which is attempting to become the first repeat Coastal champion since Virginia Tech won 2 straight in 2010-11.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Narduzzi said. “We would like to win a national championship. We want to be in the playoffs. … That’s where we want to be. We’re not happy with where we were last year and would like to win every football game. I think we’ve got a good football team returning.”

Good, yes. But to be great, the Panthers will have to find replacements for Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback Kenny Pickett and star wide receiver Jordan Addison, who decided he could make more NIL money by going elsewhere rather than staying for another season at Pittsburgh.

The irony of Addison’s decision to sign as a free agent with Southern Cal is that the quarterback brought in to fill the void left by Pittsburgh Steelers draft pick Pickett came in what essentially was a trade with the Trojans.

Kedon Slovis was the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2019 following a season in which he threw for 3,502 yards and 30 touchdowns while completing almost 72% of his passes. If he can come even close to those kinds of numbers, with plenty of remaining receiving options and a 3-headed running back rotation that combined for 1,700 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2021, the Panthers once again will be among the league leaders in scoring offense.

Even if there is a slight dropoff, it shouldn’t matter. Not with the defense Narduzzi has put together.

No fewer than 6 returning members of the unit that led the ACC and ranked 2nd in the nation with 54 sacks last season earned all-conference mention last season. And they’re more motivated than ever to continue wreaking havoc on opposing quarterbacks.

“We really just want to keep setting the bar higher and higher, and never just sitting there feeling happy with what we did,” said redshirt senior defensive end Deslin Alexandre, a member of a dominant line that also includes preseason All-ACC picks Calijah Kancey and Habakkuk Baldonado. “We always want more.”

How much more?

Alexandre’s teammate, linebacker SirVocea Dennis, has a specific number in mind.

“Last year we were 7 points away,” he said. “We think this year, that 7 … we’re going to get it.”

If they do, they’ll lift their program to heights it hasn’t reached since the days of Tony Dorsett and Dan Marino. And considering the long odds that have been set for their championship chances, make a nice stack of cash for anyone bold enough to put down a wager on them.