When the USA Today preseason Coaches Poll was released Tuesday, Clemson landed in the Top 25, checking in at No. 23.

It’s been more than a decade since the Tigers came into a season ranked that low, dating back to 2011, when Dabo Swinney’s team began unranked.

However, The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel is surprised that Clemson is even ranked at all, questioning the justification for the Tigers making the Top 25 after their recent performance, roster turnover and unproven quarterback situation entering 2026.

Mandel cited brand name bias, comparing Clemson’s inclusion to how pollsters treated Miami during their post-2002 decline.

“The most glaring thing of all is that Clemson is ranked at all — the Tigers are No. 23. What is this based on?” Mandel wrote. “They went 7-6 last year, nearly all of the key players from that team got drafted and QB Christopher Vizzina (Tier 5, No. 53 in The Athletic’s QB tiers) is completely unproven. It reminds me of Miami in the post-2002 era, when the pollsters kept ranking them high long after the program began declining, under the assumption that, ‘Well, it’s Miami.’

“We have officially entered that period with Clemson.”

CBS Sports analyst Tom Fornelli joined Mandel in questioning the logic of Clemson’s Coaches Poll ranking given the Tigers’ record last season and losses at the quarterback position/along both lines of scrimmage. Like Mandel, Fornelli wonders whether coaches fall back on brand recognition rather than evaluating the current state of things.

“You know, I don’t wanna get triggered by the Coaches Poll in early August, but it came out today, and, uh, Clemson No. 23?” Fornelli said. “The same Clemson that went 7-6 last year? Lost its quarterback? Lost pretty much every player it had on both sides of the line of scrimmage? Lost to teams like Syracuse and Zombie Penn State?

“That’s the Clemson we’re putting at No. 23, coaches? Like, did you just not know any other teams? Did you get to the end of your ballots and not know what to do? What’s the thought process behind this one? It makes no sense. I know they won a national title or two a couple years ago, but, uh, it’s not really been going that way for a while. So, to have them at No. 23, just, uh. Yeah, let’s hope the AP voters do a little bit better.”

Meanwhile, CBS Sports writer Cody Nagel labeled Clemson as an “overrated” team in the Coaches Poll. He believes the coaches voting in the poll are giving Swinney a “benefit of the doubt” that isn’t warranted due to the many question marks surrounding the team entering the 2026 campaign.

“Last year, Clemson was one of our ‘underrated’ teams after opening the preseason at No. 6 in the Coaches Poll. Instead, the Tigers stumbled to their worst finish in 15 years. Now they’re back in the preseason rankings despite having far too many questions,” Nagel wrote. “Clemson matched a school record with nine selections in the 2026 NFL Draft, then did little in the transfer portal (shocking, I know) to replace that production. The Tigers also aren’t recruiting at the elite level that fueled their run as a national power, making it harder to simply reload every offseason.

“The offense now appears to belong to Christopher Vizzina, who has patiently waited his turn but has played only limited meaningful snaps. Projecting an immediate bounce-back on offense requires a leap of faith. It seems the coaches are giving Dabo Swinney the benefit of the doubt.”

Sports Illustrated’s Zach Koons and Dan Lyons also pegged Clemson as an overrated team in the Coaches Poll, echoing similar sentiments to those previously mentioned.

“A preseason ranking of No. 23 is hardly ample praise for a program that was one of the two most dominant in the sport just a few short years ago, but considering how Clemson’s 2025 season played out, and how quiet their offseason was, the Tigers are still trading on reputation with the voting body,” Koons and Lyons wrote.

“After fielding a mediocre-at-best offense that scored just 10 points in losses to LSU and Penn State that bookended a disappointing 7–6 season, Dabo Swinney did make a change at coordinator … though he was about as backwards-looking as it gets. In steps former Clemson OC Chad Morris, who went 18–40 as head coach at SMU and Arkansas after leaving the Tigers and was last seen coaching wide receivers at Texas State. He helped turn the Tigers into one of the most fearsome offenses in the country, but that was a decade and many significant changes to the game ago. Swinney appears prepared to hand the offense to quarterback Christopher Vizzina, he of 71 total pass attempts a year ago. There is upside for this offense, if the receiver duo of Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore can stay healthy, and the offensive line has experience, though much of it is far from positive.

“The defense from 2025 was far ahead of the offense and defensive end Will Heldt—a rare transfer in a year ago—was as good as advertised. Still, this was a fringe top-25 unit a year ago, per ESPN’s SP+, and was diced up not only by strong Duke and SMU offenses, but by Syracuse to the tune of 34 points, even after an injury to Orange quarterback Steve Angeli turned that unit into one of the country’s worst. Clemson has talent and can certainly take a jump back into the Top 25 this season, but this is a very bullish early position for the Tigers given what we know.”

USA Today’s John Brice continued the theme, listing Clemson as overrated as well.

“The good news is the No. 23 Tigers return two starting offensive linemen among their projected eight returning starters, five of them offense,” Brice wrote. “That’s still three holes on the OL, not to mention yet another new quarterback. Christopher Vizzina is a former blue-chip prospect with less than 75 career passes to show for his patience in Death Valley. He’s also transitioning to a new offensive coordinator — Chad Morris — after learning for three years under Garrett Riley, who wasn’t the play-caller who recruited Vizzina to Clemson. Plus, the Tigers have roadies at LSU, California, Florida State and defending ACC champion Duke, as well as home clashes against College Football Playoff runner-up Miami and intrastate rival South Carolina.”