Clemson Tigers Receive Intriguing Ranking from Top College Football Analyst

The Clemson Tigers should be one of the top teams in the nation in 2025 and one analyst believes they should be among the top teams.

Matt Postins | Feb 20, 2025

Texas Longhorns linebacker Ethan Burke (91)sacks Clemson Tigers quarterback Cade Klubnik (2) in the first half of an NCAA College Football Playoffs first round game at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin, Texas, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. / Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Clemson Tigers

With an absence of actual football games, this is the time of year when college football analysts post their “way-too-early” rankings for the upcoming season.

With the transfer portal closed — for now — and spring football approaching for teams like the Clemson Tigers, there isn’t as much to go on for people like Joel Klatt, who is Fox Sports’ leading college football analyst.

But he’s seen enough. During his Joel Klatt Show, he said he sees Clemson as the No. 7 team in the country in his “way-too-early” analysis of the upcoming college football season.

While he ranked the Tigers in the Top 10, he said the teams from Nos. 7-15 right now are relatively interchangeable in terms of order.

Still, there are good reasons for the Tigers, for now, to be seen as that type of team.

“I love Clemson and what they’re doing,” Klatt said. “I love the fact that (rising senior quarterback Cade) Klubnik is back for his third year as the starter in the same offense. Dabo Swinney is finally… wait for it… dabbling in the portal. OK, here we go! Clemson starting to dabble in the portal a little bit, so I think that their roster could be a little bit better.”

His biggest concern is on defense, where the Tigers were not up to their usual standard. But, the Tigers brought in Tom Allen, who was Penn State’s defensive coordinator last season as the Nittany Lions reached the College Football Playoff semifinal.

Some of the portal additions that Klatt reference were on defense, including a move that should bolster the Tigers’ pass rush.

Along with Klubnik’s rise, he referenced the fact that the Tigers are returning four starting offensive linemen along with several of its top receivers, which should help take the offense another step forward.

The Tigers are coming off a season in which they bounced back from a disappointing 2023, during which they went 9-4. Clemson won the ACC title with a victory over the SMU Mustangs, clinching a berth in the CFP and losing to Texas in the first round. The Tigers finished the season 10-4.

Clemson has been a perennial in the CFP since it started more than a decade ago. Only Alabama has made more CFP appearances (eight) than Clemson’s seven. All of those appearances have come under Swinney, who has taken the Tigers to four CFP title games and two national championships in that span.

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