Clemson is not ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll for the first time since 2011, while the Tigers landed at No. 23 in the preseason Coaches Poll — Clemson’s lowest preseason Coaches Poll ranking since 2011, when the Tigers started the year unranked.

Though Clemson isn’t a preseason top-four team like it was a year ago, multiple analysts still believe the Tigers are overrated entering the 2026 campaign.

In the CBS Sports ACC expert picks and predictions released ahead of the new season, analysts Tom Fornelli and John Talty both picked Clemson as their choice for the conference’s “most overrated” team.

Rather than winning double-digit games like Clemson did every year from 2011-22 (and most recently, 2024), Fornelli sees an 8-4 or 7-5 record as a “far more likely” outcome for the Tigers this year, noting that Dabo Swinney’s team has gone just 26-14 overall during the past three seasons.

“If we consider the last three seasons — the ones with not only the transfer portal but also open NIL — to be the modern era of college football, then Clemson is a powerhouse of the past. There’s no denying the greatness accomplished by the Tigers under Dabo Swinney, but things have changed,” Fornelli wrote.

“In the ‘modern era,’ Clemson is 26-14, including 15-9 in ACC play. It has lost its place among the elite. None of which is to say the Tigers can’t or won’t have a strong season (there’s plenty of wiggle room in the ACC after Miami), but an 8-4 mark is far more likely than the double-digit win seasons of yore. As is 7-5.”

Clemson isn’t the only school that received votes for “most overrated team.” The CBS Sports panel also pegged Duke (selected by Chris Hummer and Richard Johnson), NC State (selected by Brad Crawford) and Virginia (selected by Brandon Marcello) as being overhyped.

The panel also predicted the order of finish in the ACC, and nobody put Clemson in the top three of their conference projections. Three writers placed the Tigers fourth, while Talty ranked them as low as sixth, behind Miami, Louisville, SMU, NC State and Virginia.

All seven of the panelists picked Miami to win the conference.