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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/usffan on 2025-08-18 10:58:03+00:00.

The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here.

Clemson (high = 2, low = 11) hits the countdown as the #5 team in these aggregated rankings, the unanimous pick as the top team in the ACC. If that pans out, that would mean the Tigers would play in the ACC championship game for the 12th time in Dabo Swinney’s 17th full season in charge and win his 10th conference title. Not too shabby for a guy who just a year or two ago was dealing with whispers about whether the game has passed him by! Last season’s title was fairly unorthodox, with the Tigers almost falling out of the preseason rankings after a week 1 thumping by Georgia, a double digit home loss to Louisville and another Death Valley loss in the Palmetto Bowl to South Carolina. That almost had Clemson on the outside looking in at the ACC championship game until Miami did their best impression of, dare I say, Clemsoning and blew a 21 point lead at Syracuse to catapult the Tigers into the title game against SMU. Then they held off a furious SMU comeback in that championship game with Nolan Hauser’s 56 yard FG on the final play to make Clemson the 5th and final conference champion in the CFP, where they entered as the 12th seed and played at #5 Texas, losing 38-24.

Roster outlook

So how does a team that squeaked into the CFP garner such a high preseason ranking? By returning the most production in all of CFB, including the top rated offense in the country. Led by QB Cade Klubnik, who threw for 3,600 yards and 36 TDs in 2024 and his entire cadre of WRs (Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco and TJ Moore), the Tigers passing attack should be among the most productive in the country in 2025. In fact, the only significant loss on offense is RB Phil Mafah, who was a 7th round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys, though TE Jake Briningstool’s loss will also be felt. Clemson did lose a bit more on defense, with LB Barrett Carter and S R. J. Mickens also getting drafted. In typical Dabo fashion, Clemson did little in the portal, ranking dead last in the ACC, though he did bring in Purdue DE Will Heldt as a projected starter. The Tigers did have the 4th best recruiting class in the conference (26th nationally), which netted what appears to be the Tigers new starting RB, true freshman Gideon Davidson. That appears to be the only real question mark heading into the season.

Schedule and outlook

In the OOC, Clemson once again has bookend SEC games, this time opening by hosting LSU before closing against South Carolina in Columbia. On paper, those will be the toughest games on the Tigers schedule. Their other OOC games are against Troy and Furman. Their ACC slate is not particularly intimidating, missing the consensus #2 team Miami and getting the #3 team SMU at home. Their stiffest road tests will likely be their conference opener at Georgia Tech or their November 14 date at Louisville to potentially avenge their only conference loss of last year. The rest (Syracuse, at North Carolina following a bye, at Boston College, Duke after a bye and Florida State) should all see the Tigers as prohibitive favorites, which is why it’s hard to imagine them not playing in the conference title game again in 2025. The biggest question will be whether they could withstand going 0-2 in their SEC games and not require a win in that championship game to get back into the playoff again.