It’s simple, start winning the big games, again

CLEMSON – Good teams win the games they are supposed to.

 They beat the opponents with less athleticism, skill and overall talent.

Better teams also win those games, but they also notch victories against squads on their same level, or at least their conference opponents. When things are evenly matched, “better” teams often come out with a big victory, whether that is on the road or at home.

The best teams in any sport, however, also find ways to pull out wins against teams that could be even better than them on paper, the opponents with more 5-star recruits, more funding or even a better record. 

Throughout head coach Dabo Swinney’s tenure, by these metrics, the Tigers have almost always been “good.” They have only suffered one non-Power Four loss, a bowl game defeat at the hands of South Florida to conclude the 2010 season.

That makes sense, as that season, Clemson finished with a 6-7 record, the worst under Swinney. Similarly, the Tigers barely escaped defeat against Troy, a Sun Belt conference member, last season in a 7-6 campaign.

It is hard to call those Clemson squads good.

But outside of those instances, Clemson has been decisively better against teams with significantly less talent. The Tigers have taken care of business where it is mandatory.

Additionally, for most of Swinney’s time at the helm, the Tigers have qualified for the “better team” category, winning 81 percent of their games against conference opponents, teams that should, on paper, be on the same or similar level.

While some of these victories were won by 40 or more points and the teams were clearly not equal, other ACC matchups have been close, and Swinney has suffered conference defeats 29 times to his 123 wins.

But what makes teams excellent, and what made Clemson’s 2010s teams successful to the tune of two national championships, is the ability to win against big-name, ranked opponents– some that may even be considered more talented or athletic.

From 2015-2019, Clemson was 19-3 in ranked games, and all three of the losses came in the national championship game or CFP semifinal.

In that span, the Tigers defeated 11 top-10 teams and seven squads ranked in the top-five, including No. 1 Alabama and second-ranked Ohio State twice where Clemson was the underdog.

While the record against teams “better” than the Tigers was not perfect, as told by losses to the very best teams in the country in 2015, 2017 and 2019, Clemson routinely won games it was not favored to win i, while taking care of most of their “should-win” matchups.

Since 2023, however, the Tigers are 4-5 in ranked games and 2-4 in their last two seasons against those opponents. 

Moving back to 2020, Clemson finished 2-4 against ranked opponents in 2020 and 2021, but had a much-improved 4-1 record in 2022, an ACC Championship year.

The Tigers’ first and most recent top-10 win since 2022 came in 2024, with a victory over No. 8 SMU in the ACC Championship game. 

Clemson knocked off No. 15 Notre Dame and No. 20 North Carolina in 2023 and 20th-ranked Louisville in 2025. Outside of that, though, the Tigers have suffered ranked losses against four SEC teams, including a loss to rival South Carolina by three points in 2024.

What does this tell us?

If Clemson wants to get back to its prowess from last decade, first it has to start with winning the games against less talented teams. It cannot hope to be a national contender without suffering losses to ACC teams with less talented rosters like it has in the last two years.

But, more than anything, the Tigers need to show that they can hang with the top-10 opponents, even if that means punching above their talent level at times. 

In the last three seasons, Clemson has opened up with losses–against first-ranked Georgia and ninth-ranked LSU, as well as a loss to unranked Duke in 2023.

The Tigers will get a chance quickly this season to prove that they can be a “good to great team,” one that marches into a hostile environment and hangs with an opponent with more talent, on paper at least. 

Clemson will open its season in a rematch against LSU, a squad with 40 new transfers, a new head coach and heaps of talent. The Tigers of Baton Rouge are poised to be a ranked team, so this can provide an early opportunity for Swinney’s Tigers to make a statement.

The Tigers will have another opportunity to pick up a big win on Oct. 3, when they will host Miami, last season’s national runner-up, at Memorial Stadium. Like LSU, Miami will provide a challenge for the Tigers, especially with quarterback Darian Mensah, who tore up the Tigers’ secondary last season as a Duke Blue Devil.

Of course, Clemson will have plenty of opportunities to pick up big wins over other conference opponents as well, including three teams that they lost to last season in Duke, Syracuse and Georgia Tech.

There will be no lack of opportunities for Clemson to play, hang with and defeat major programs this year, and it all starts on Sept. 5, at LSU.