The landscape of college football has certainly evolved in many different ways over the past 5-10 seasons.
Transfer-portal madness, NIL free agency in the offseason and so many other factors have led to shifts among many programs.
One of the programs that has been negatively impacted by that in recent seasons has been the Clemson Tigers, and that negative impact was felt Monday with the release of the preseason AP Top 25 rankings.
Clemson will begin the season unranked for the first time in 15 seasons
Clemson began the 2025 season ranked No. 4 in the preseason rankings. The Tigers then preceded to go 7-6, their worst record since going 6-7 in 2010, Dabo Swinney’s second year as the head coach.
Combine last season with the fact that they lost nine starters to the NFL Draft, and it finds itself in uncharted territory.
Clemson will begin the 2026 season unranked for the first time 2011. The program has been ranked 16th or better in the preseason poll from 2012-2025 and has started the season inside the top five in the rankings eight times in that stretch.
There are a lot of unknowns for the upcoming season
Like several other big programs, Clemson still does not know who its starting quarterback will be. There is an ongoing battle between senior Christopher Vizzina and freshman Tait Reynolds.
The Tigers do boast one of the best receiving duos in the country with Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore, but someone will have to be putting the ball in their hands on a consistent basis.
Clemson is loving the underdog role it has been put in this season, and it would not be a surprise to see Swinney use that as a motivation and have his team in the hunt for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
