After winning the 2024 ACC Championship and returning to the College Football Playoff that year, Clemson came into the 2025 season ranked No. 4 in the preseason AP Poll, picked by the media to repeat as conference champs, and expected to contend for the national title.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, they took a major step back with a highly disappointing 7-6 campaign in 2025 – the second-worst record in Dabo Swinney’s tenure as Clemson’s head coach. The season, perhaps fittingly, ended with a Pinstripe Bowl loss to a fellow 2025 disappointment in Penn State.

However, this ESPN writer expects Clemson to bounce back in the upcoming season. A panel of ESPN college football reporters recently weighed in on teams poised to improve in 2026, and Heather Dinich pegged Clemson as the team that “will show the greatest improvement from last year.”

“Clemson because … there’s just no way Dabo Swinney can lose six games again. Can he?” Dinich wrote. “Bringing back former Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris is interesting because he hasn’t called plays since 2020 and hasn’t coached at Clemson since 2014. He’s a proven playcaller, though, who helped the Tigers to a 41-11 record during his tenure. How first-year starting quarterback Christopher Vizzina fares is a valid question, but when searching for a team that will make a significant leap this fall, it’s hard to believe Clemson will continue to be irrelevant in the ACC race. With a road opener at LSU, the Tigers will find out early how far their climb back will be.”

Elsewhere in the Palmetto State, Clemson’s in-state rival, South Carolina, was named by ESPN’s Jake Trotter as an “off-the-radar team we will be talking about in December.”

“Last season was a disaster for the Gamecocks, who finished with only one SEC win,” Trotter wrote. “But two years ago, South Carolina was the hottest team in college football heading into December and nearly snuck into the playoff. The Gamecocks return two absolute stars in Sellers and Stewart. With better pass protection for Sellers — the Gamecocks are hopeful left tackle transfer Jacarrius Peak (NC State) will be ready to go after an offseason basketball injury — South Carolina could be a sleeper playoff contender come December.”

The Tigers and Gamecocks will conclude their respective 2026 regular seasons when they clash at Memorial Stadium in Clemson on Nov. 28.

Clemson will kick off its 2026 season on Sept. 5, when it faces LSU and new head coach Lane Kiffin at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.

The panel of ESPN reporters were asked to pick the non-College Football Playoff team from last year that they expect to make the playoff this season, and Andrea Adelson almost chose LSU, but went with BYU instead.

“I was tempted to say LSU because Lane Kiffin put together one of the best portal classes in the country, but then I remembered Brian Kelly put together one of the best portal classes in the country last year and that did not exactly work out,” Adelson wrote. “Still, I think LSU will be in the mix late.”