Ranking Clemson’s ’25 Opponents
By: will-vandervort February 17, 2025

The 2025 Clemson Football season has the potential to be a great one.

At the moment, the Tigers return 15 starters from a team that advanced to the College Football Playoff, won another ACC Championship and went 10-4 last year.

On offense Clemson will bring back playmakers such as wide receivers Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco, T.J. Moore and Tyler Brown. Quarterback Cade Klubnik, the top returning passer in the game, is also back.

New defensive coordinator Tom Allen will have plenty of talent to work with, too, as the Tigers return defensive end T.J. Parker, defensive tackles Peter Woods and DeMonte Capehart, linebackers Sammy Brown and Wade Woodaz and a talented secondary led by cornerback Avieon Terrell.

The talent is definitely there. However, Clemson will have to navigate through a difficult schedule to reach its goals. Clemson plays six teams that won nine or more games last year and nine that played in a postseason bowl/CFP game.

Vegas has Clemson’s win total at 9.5 for 2025, the highest in the ACC.

Clemson’s 2025 schedule will once again feature a full seven-game home slate in Death Valley in addition to four road games against ACC opponents and a road contest in the regular season finale at South Carolina.

You can see Clemson’s full 2025 schedule here.

Below is the 2025 Clemson Football schedule from easiest to hardest.

  1. Furman (3-8 in 2024)
  • Game 11
  • Where: Memorial Stadium, Clemson
  • Date: 11/22
  • TV: TBA
  • About: Clemson hosts in-state FCS foe Furman as part of Clemson’s annual non-conference scheduling philosophy. Clemson is 39-0 against FCS opponents since Division I split in 1978, winning 38 of the 39 games by double digits. Clemson leads the all-time series 44-10-4 and has won 32 straight games over the Paladins, which dates back to 1938.
  1. Troy (4-8 in 2024)
  • Game 2
  • Where: Memorial Stadium, Clemson
  • Date: 9/06
  • TV: TBA
  • About: Clemson is 41-5 in non-conference home games under Dabo Swinney including a 31-2 mark in its last 33 non-conference games in Death Valley. Swinney’s 41-5 mark in those contests includes the only two previous meetings with Troy, a 43-19 win in 2011 and a 30-24 win in 2016.
  1. Boston College (7-6 in 2024)
  • Game 6
  • Where: Alumni Stadium, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
  • Date: 10/11
  • TV: TBA
  • About: Clemson has won its last 12 meetings with Boston College, including a 5-0 mark in games played in Chestnut Hill since 2011. The game will be Clemson’s first against current Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien. The Tigers were undefeated against the Eagles’ two previous head coaches, including a 7-0 mark against Steve Addazio and a 3-0 record against Jeff Hafley. The Tigers lead the all-time series 21-9-2 and have not lost to BC since 2010.
  1. North Carolina (6-7 in 2024)
  • Game 5
  • Where: Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill, N.C.
  • Date: 10/04
  • TV: TBA
  • About: After an open date, two of the preeminent coaching figures of the last two decades lead their teams against one another when two-time national champion Dabo Swinney leads the Tigers against six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels. Clemson is riding a six-game winning streak in the series and can match its longest winning streak in series history (seven straight from 1986-92) with a win. A win would also make Clemson 2-0 all-time against Super Bowl champion head coaches. The Tigers beat Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma team in the 1989 Citrus Bowl. Switzer, of course, coached the Dallas Cowboys to a Super Bowl title in 1995.
  1. Duke (9-4 in 2024)
  • Game 8
  • Where: Memorial Stadium, Clemson
  • Date: 11/01
  • TV: TBA
  • About: Following its second open date, Clemson will play its first of five games in the month of November. Clemson is 37-17 all-time against Duke, including a 20-4-1 mark at Death Valley. The game will mark Clemson’s first time hosting the Blue Devils since 2018, when the Tigers defeated quarterback Daniel Jones’ Duke squad 35-6 amid the Tigers’ 15-0 national championship season. Clemson has won its last 15 meetings against the Blue Devils in Death Valley. The Tigers’ last loss to Duke in Clemson came in 1980.
  1. Florida State (2-10 in 2024)
  • Game 9
  • Where: Memorial Stadium, Clemson
  • Date: 11/08
  • TV: TBA
  • About: The Tigers and Seminoles have met every year since 1992 with the exception of 2020, when the game was canceled due to COVID concerns. Clemson has won nine of the last 11 meetings in Death Valley and has won eight of the last nine meetings overall. Clemson and Florida State have played each other in 13 of the last 14 seasons since 2011, and the Clemson/Florida State winner has won the ACC in 12 of the 13 seasons in which the Tigers and Seminoles have squared off in that span.
  1. Syracuse (10-3 in 2024)
  • Game 4
  • Where: Memorial Stadium, Clemson
  • Date: 9/20
  • TV: TBA
  • About: The Tigers are 10-2 all-time against Syracuse but 5-0 against the Orange in Death Valley. The game will be Syracuse’s first visit to Memorial Stadium since 2022, a 27-21 win in which then-freshman Cade Klubnik came in for a struggling DJ Uiagalelei at quarterback. He rallied the Tigers from an 11-point fourth quarter deficit.
  1. Georgia Tech (7-6 in 2024)
  • Game 3
  • Where: Bobby Dodd Stadium, Atlanta
  • Date: 9/13
  • TV: TBA
  • About: Clemson has won 12 of the last 17 meetings in the rivalry (all under Swinney), including nine straight. The Tigers own a 25-17 lead in the series since Georgia Tech officially started to play for an ACC Championship in 1983. Clemson’s last road game at Georgia Tech was played at Mercedes Benz Stadium in 2022, so this year’s contest will mark Clemson’s first trip to Bobby Dodd Stadium since 2020, a game in which Trevor Lawrence threw for 404 yards and five touchdowns in a 73-7 win, the largest margin of victory in an ACC game in conference history. The Tigers have won its last three trips to Bobby Dodd Stadium.
  1. SMU (11-3 in 2024)
  • Game 7
  • Where: Memorial Stadium, Clemson
  • Date: 10/18
  • TV: TBA
  • About: Clemson’s lone home game of the month of October when it faces SMU at Memorial Stadium in a rematch of the teams’ dramatic 2024 ACC Championship Game. The Tigers and Mustangs met for the first time in series history last December when Nolan Hauser’s 56-yard walk-off field goal gave Clemson its record 22nd ACC title and sent the Tigers to their seventh College Football Playoff.
  1. Louisville (9-4 in 2024)
  • Game 10
  • Where: L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium, Louisville, Ky.
  • Date: 11/14
  • TV: TBA
  • About: Louisville won its first game in the series last season. The Tigers had won the previous eight meetings between the two. Clemson leads the all-time series 8-1. They will play on a Friday night when the Tigers close their ACC regular season schedule. Clemson is 4-0 in road games at Louisville, including most recently a 30-24 victory in 2021 in which the Tigers held the Cardinals out of the end zone on four straight downs from the Clemson two-yard line in the final minute for the win.
  1. South Carolina (9-4 in 2024)
  • Game 12
  • Where: Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, S.C.
  • Date: 11/29
  • TV: TBA
  • About: The Gamecocks have won 2 of the last 3 meetings in the series. However, the Tigers have won 8 of the last 10 and have won five straight in Columbia dating back to 2015. The last time Clemson won six straight over the Gamecocks in Columbia was a stretch from 1989-1999. Overall, Clemson leads the series 73-44-4 and is 18-6 in Columbia dating back to 1977.
  1. LSU (9-4 in 2024)
  • Game 1
  • Where: Memorial Stadium, Clemson
  • Date: 8/30
  • TV: TBA
  • About: The four previous meetings between the Tigers of Clemson and LSU were in bowl games or in the CFP National Championship Game. LSU leads the series 3-1. The last meeting took place in the 2020 CFP title game, a game LSU won. This year will mark the first regular season meeting when Clemson welcomes the Bayou Bengals to College Football’s Original Death Valley. Tiger Field in Baton Rouge, La., is also nicknamed Death Valley, but it got its moniker way after Clemson was called “Death Valley.” Clemson is 12-5 against SEC opponents in regular season play in the College Football Playoff era. The marquee matchup between the respective conference powers will mark Clemson’s first time opening a season at home since 2019, as the Tigers opened the last five seasons from 2020-’24 either on the road or at a neutral site.

—Clemson Athletic Communications contributed to this story