Josh Pate isn’t ready to bury Clemson, even with plenty of people around college football treating the Tigers like a team on the decline.
As Clemson heads toward the 2026 season, the reaction around the program has been all over the map. The AP Poll omission only fueled the skepticism. But on Josh Pate’s College Football Show, the On3 and ESPN analyst made it clear he’s not buying the panic - and he’s not entertaining chatter about Dabo Swinney landing on a hot seat.
“I hadn’t put Dabo Swinney on the hot seat,” Pate said. “Maybe other people have; maybe you’ve heard other people say that.
I haven’t done that. I think that’s dumb.”
Clemson’s 2025 season ended at 7-6, and the problems were easy to spot. The Tigers struggled to run the ball and had major issues defending the pass. Pate pointed straight at those numbers while also noting the program attacked those weaknesses during the offseason, bringing in offensive coordinator Chad Morris and reshaping the secondary with new staffers and transfers.
“They couldn’t run the ball. They couldn’t defend the pass,” Pate said.
“They were 105th in rush yards per game. They were 120th in pass yards allowed per game.
So, did that change? I think so.”
That’s where Pate’s optimism starts to take shape. He said there’s “a lot to like about Clemson” going into the season, and much of that comes down to the players back in the mix and the additions the Tigers made while trying to erase what happened in 2025.
“That wide receiver room is really, really good,” he said. “Will Heldt is one of the best edges in the country.
They added good portal pieces in the secondary. I’d say Ashton Hampton, who’s a homegrown guy, maybe one of the best corners in the country this year.”
Quarterback is the other big question, and Pate thinks Christopher Vizzina will win the job. With Sept. 5 approaching, he believes Clemson may have a different kind of edge at the position than it did a year ago with Cade Klubnik.
“The one thing I’d be really excited about, from an intangible standpoint, is I can say the team will fight for Chris Vizzina,” he said. “. . .I don’t know if I would have said that about the quarterback position at Clemson last year, and that matters.”
Pate also pointed to the offensive line as a key swing factor, especially with new starters working into the mix. He said fall camp has sounded uneven, but he still trusts the man overseeing that group.
“It sounded kind of up and down to me in fall camp so far, but I’ll tell you this: if anybody’s going to get it out of them, I think Matt Luke’s a guy I would trust, so I wouldn’t write them off.”
Clemson does not get much time to sort things out. LSU is waiting on the schedule, and Pate made it clear the Tigers still have to prove it on the field. But for now, he’s not ready to close the book on Swinney’s team.
After all, as he put it, the real answers won’t come until the ball is kicked off in Baton Rouge in Week 1.
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Burley arrived as a highly regarded member of Clemsons 2023 recruiting class, but his on-field impact has been limited across his first two seasons. Even so, the timing makes this more than a routine roster note, because Clemson is now trying to sort out its interior depth while preparing for an opener that will demand every available body up front. [Read more 🡒]