Clemson enters the 2026 preseason with a familiar mix of respect and skepticism attached to its name. ESPN’s latest Football Power Index pegs the Tigers at No. 19 nationally, which makes them the second-highest ranked team in the ACC behind Miami at No. 7.
That’s a notable jump from where Clemson finished a year ago. The Tigers ended last season at No. 31 in the FPI with a 9.5 rating, and they were fourth in the conference behind Louisville at 28, SMU at 23 and Miami at 5.
The placement is still a little surprising considering Clemson is coming off its worst season in 15 years. Dabo Swinney’s team went 7-6, a sharp step back after the previous year had created College Football Playoff buzz. Still, the Tigers are once again being viewed as a team with enough talent to matter, especially after an offseason that brought in more than 10 transfers while keeping much of their best offensive talent in place.
ESPN’s model projects Clemson to finish 8-4, and it gives the Tigers an 89.3% chance to reach six wins. That lines up with the broader expectation around the program, with many projections landing in the 8-4 to 10-2 range.
The schedule won’t do Clemson many favors. ESPN ranks the Tigers sixth in the ACC in strength of schedule, and the year includes matchups with LSU, Cal, Miami and South Carolina. Each of those games comes with quarterbacks capable of making life difficult.
There’s also the Virginia Tech game to keep an eye on. The Hokies now have veteran head coach James Franklin and redshirt sophomore quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, who threw for a career-high 260 yards in a 22-10 Pinstripe Bowl win over Clemson last season.
If Clemson wants to get the season pointed in the right direction early, a win over LSU in Baton Rouge would be the cleanest way to do it. That kind of road result would set a strong tone for a bounce-back campaign.
Even so, the conference and playoff numbers show that the Tigers are still being treated as a team with work to do. Clemson has a 9.5% chance to win the ACC, which gives it the third-best odds in the league.
Miami leads the way with a 48.4% chance, the best mark in the country, while SMU sits at 11.1%. Louisville is the only other ACC team above 5%, coming in at 8.1%.
The College Football Playoff picture is a little more encouraging. Clemson’s 21.1% odds of making the field trail only Miami, which owns the sixth-best national chance at 61.4%. SMU follows at 18.5%, with Louisville at 13.8%.
Still, the numbers come with a warning label. Clemson was in a similar spot entering last season, and the Tigers fell well short of those expectations.
In Other News...
Clemsons Tight End Room Could Decide How Far Chad Morris Goes
Clemsons push to reshape its tight end room is one of the more interesting subplots around Chad Morris first season back in the offensive coordinator chair. Morris has made it clear the position matters in his version of the offense, especially with a heavier emphasis on the run game and the kind of versatility that lets tight ends line up in more than one spot. Senior Olsen Patt-Henry, redshirt freshman Brooking and Christian Bentancur all fit into that plan, and the Tigers expect to lean on two-tight-end looks often as they try to make the group a real asset instead of just a supporting cast.
Patt-Henry is the most established piece, while Bentancur brings the athletic profile that can stress defenses in the passing game. Brooking is the younger name to watch as the season unfolds, and Clemson also has depth behind that trio with Charlie Johnson, Jack Wolf and Tayveon Wilson in the mix. For a team trying to find the right balance in Morris offense, how quickly that room comes together could tell a lot about how far the scheme can go. [Read more 🡒]
Dabo Swinney Just Landed Near The Top Of A Brutal List
A new national ranking is offering a different kind of spotlight on Dabo Swinney, and it is not the sort Clemson fans are used to seeing. RotoWire put together a list of the most hated college football coaches using social media sentiment and a fan survey, and Swinney landed near the top of it, sitting behind only Lane Kiffin and Deion Sanders.
The ranking says as much about perception as it does about results, which is part of why it stands out for a coach whose Clemson resume includes a long run of success. RotoWires explanation points to Swinneys public stance on NIL and the transfer portal, along with the way some fans view his messaging about how he wins, leaving his place on the list as a reminder that national opinion can look very different from what a home crowd sees. [Read more 🡒]