Clemson vaults into preseason Top 10 rating despite some doubts from ESPN analyst

Adam Randall looks to make an impact in the ground game.

Brandon Rink · Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer · Thursday, May 22 2025

One ESPN data-based college football ranking (SP+) is lower than most post-spring outlooks on Clemson, but it did move the Tigers up three spots to No. 8 going into the summer.

It projects Clemson (23.3 rating) to have a No. 6 offense, No. 12 defense and No. 133 special teams group. The nearest ACC team is Miami (18.8) at No. 12, and it installs the ACC Tigers as a slight favorite with opener opponent LSU (No. 9; Clemson -1.2 before home-field advantage).

Rival South Carolina is No. 17 (16.1 rating), and another revenge road trip in Louisville is also Top 25 (12.1; No. 24).

SP+ founder Bill Connelly sees the numbers and agrees Clemson should be very good, but he is still on the fence on the Tigers being a national title contender.

"I'm not low on them. I'm just not buying Top 5 potential yet," Connelly told The Solid Verbal earlier this month. "Part of that is because they had extreme turnovers luck. Thinking back to the SMU game itself...Starts with a perfect sack and strip and a guy recovers it and sets up the first touchdown. Just little things like that added up and they did that a lot last year and that's really hard to replicate, even if you're little ole Clemson."

Connelly said the picture of going toe-to-toe at Texas is fresh in everybody's mind, and it also caught his eye.

"They are fascinating to me...They were fortunate last season, but then also we just got this tiny little glimpse of an actual Clemson offense that makes big plays," he said. "And that's what everybody that is talking about them as a Top 5 team this year is remembering T.J. Moore catching balls down the sidelines against a really good Texas secondary. Bryant Wesco, when he was healthy, had a lot of really nice moments. Those are both freshmen who produced great numbers for freshmen and they should both get better. Antonio Williams is back.

"You can see, from a personnel standpoint they're No. 1 in returning production but they were No. 1 in turnovers luck (last season). They're really efficient overall, so that Texas game was like the only time in the last five years that they made big plays. It's been a very, very, efficiency-heavy and big play-light offense. You don't win national titles without big plays. It's really interesting...We're going to find out once and for all if Clemson in this era can put together a national title roster.

"Because if this isn't it, I don't think it's going to happen."

Per ESPN's David Hale, Cade Klubnik had the most touchdown passes of 20+ yards last season (16), averaging 16.6 yards per attempt on deep throws overall.

Clemson SP+ opponents rankings

No. 9 LSU (22.1)
No. 17 South Carolina (16.1)
No. 20 SMU (13.1)
No. 24 Louisville (12.1)
No. 36 FSU (7.2)
No. 41 Duke (4.9)
No. 44 GT (4.7)
No. 54 UNC (2.0)
No. 56 Syracuse (1.6)
No. 62 BC (0.3)
No. 86 Troy (-6.0)