CBS Sports gave out grades to each team in the ACC for the 2025 college football regular season, and it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Clemson (7-5, 4-4 ACC) didn’t grade out particularly well.  

Of course, Clemson entered this season ranked No. 4 in the country, with national championship aspirations, after winning the 2024 ACC title and appearing in the 12-team College Football Playoff last season. Unfortunately for Dabo Swinney’s squad, it quickly saw those championship hopes go by the wayside, as the Tigers lost three of their first four games and five of their first eight.

But to Clemson’s credit, after the 1-3 start, the Tigers won six of their last eight games in the regular season and ended it on a four-game winning streak. In the process, they became the first team in school history to win seven games in a season in which the team started the year with one win or fewer through four games.

All things considered, CBS Sports’ Chip Patterson gave Clemson a “D” grade for its 2025 campaign.

“If we are grading Clemson based on where the Tigers stack up in the ACC, then Tigers had a fairly average season,” Patterson wrote. “The problem is we are grading Clemson based on the program standard and expectations heading into the season. Offensively, success would come and go, and defensively, they were talented but had a couple games where that group could not get the stops it needed to win. There is some credit for winning four straight games to close the season, but it’s a sub-standard year that gets a sub-standard grade.”

Clemson will try to earn its eighth win with a bowl victory, which would give the Tigers at least eight wins for the 15th consecutive season.

When they face Penn State (6-6) in the Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 27 (noon, ABC), the Tigers will attempt to extend their FBS-record streak of 14 consecutive seasons with at least one postseason victory.

CBS Sports gave Duke, the 2025 ACC Champion, a “B” grade, while former Clemson assistant coach Tony Elliott’s Virginia team received an “A” after making it to the ACC Championship Game for the first time since 2019.

Before losing an overtime thriller to Duke in the ACC title game, Elliott’s Cavaliers closed the regular season 10-2 overall and 7-1 in conference play. The Cavaliers recorded their second 10-win season in program history — the first since 1989 — and matched the 1995 team with a program-record seven conference victories.

“Offseason investments paid off not just with a breakthrough season for Tony Elliott but one of the best seasons in school history,” Patterson wrote. “There is obvious disappointment from falling just short of an ACC championship and the College Football Playoff after an overtime defeat to Duke in Charlotte, but this is still just the second 10-win season in program history. Early season wins against Florida State and at Louisville built the confidence that the Wahoos could hang with anyone in the league, and even though the wins weren’t always pretty, the winning DNA was real. That’s a credit to Elliott and his staff, getting a team with heavy transfer influence on the same page to put together a historic season.”

Wake Forest is the only other team in the ACC that got an “A” from CBS Sports. Boston College, North Carolina, Syracuse and Virginia Tech all received “F” grades.