CLEMSON — If you looked at the last month and saw Clemson won its last four games, which included wins over Florida State and South Carolina, you would think the Tigers had a pretty good season.

And of course, you would be wrong.

As we sit here today, December 1, 2025, the Clemson Football program, considered to be one of the best in the country, is waiting to see what second-tier bowl game it will play in later this month.

It’s not getting ready for another ACC Championship Game or waiting to see what its ranking will be in Tuesday’s next-to-last College Football Playoff Ranking. No, it’s waiting to see if it will be invited to either play in the Pinstripe Bowl, Duke’s Mayo Bowl or Sun Bowl.

Those bowls are not exactly what we all had in mind for the Tigers when they were the preseason No. 4 team and were the odds-on favorite to win another ACC Championship.

Now, don’t get me wrong, things could have been much worse. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney did a heck of a job keeping this year’s team together and coaching them to a strong finish.

That needs to be commended, and it is without a doubt an indictment on the culture of the program. Not many programs would have survived a 1-3 start or a 3-5 mark in the middle of the season and still won seven games and qualified for a bowl game.

However, going to the Pinstripe Bowl, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl or the Sun Bowl are not the aspirations of the Clemson Football program. It strives for more and frankly its supporters, who put a lot of time and money into it, deserve more.

How did Clemson get into this situation?

I wish I knew.

You can blame it on the players. You can blame it on the coaches. You can blame it on the head coach.

I think all parties involved are to blame.

Clemson is in this position because it did not play well against bad-to-average football teams for most of the year.

I mean, the Tigers lost to a Syracuse team, whose defense gave up 35 points and 427 yards per game.

They lost to an SMU team that lost on the road to Cal. I know Clemson did not have Cade Klubnik that afternoon at Memorial Stadium, but his absence had nothing to do with why the defense could not stop the Mustangs.

SMU’s only other road wins were at Missouri State and at Boston College, not exactly powerhouses.

Granted Clemson got hosed at the end of the Duke game, but scoring 45 points should be more than enough to beat anyone, especially Duke. The Tigers had the Blue Devils backed up to their own 6-yard line in the final five minutes and they let Duke’s offense drive 94 yards to score the game-winning TD.

That should never have happened. None of those examples should have happened.

But they did, and that is why we are sitting here on Dec. 1, wondering what second-tier bowl Clemson is going to later this month.