Clemson went 7-6 in 2025, and three of those losses made ESPN’s list of the top 100 games of the 2025 college football season.
Clemson’s season-opening, 17-10 loss to LSU at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium on Aug. 30 is ranked No. 80.
Trailing by seven late in what was a top-10 matchup, Clemson drove to the LSU 15-yard line but was stopped on downs with less than a minute left as the No. 9 LSU Tigers defeated the fourth-ranked Clemson Tigers.
“We never know for sure what the meaning of a big Week 1 game will end up becoming, and while this was a battle of preseason top-10 teams that would come nowhere close to living up to expectations, it was still a hell of an event,” ESPN’s Bill Connelly wrote. “Clemson forced a couple of first-half turnovers and led 10-3 at halftime, but LSU slowly took control with a pair of long touchdown drives. Clemson put together a drive late, but Cade Klubnik threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-4 with 59 seconds left, and the visiting Tigers prevailed.”
Clemson’s 24-21 loss at Georgia Tech on Sept. 13 landed at No. 26 among ESPN’s top 100 games of 2025.
Then-No. 12 Clemson rallied to tie the game on Adam Randall’s touchdown run with 3:26 remaining, but a 55-yard field goal as time expired gave the Yellow Jackets the victory at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta.
Clemson erased a 13-point first-half deficit and a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit, but Aidan Birr hit the third of his three field goals to clinch the win.
“Smoothest. Fire-drill field goal. Ever,” Connelly wrote. “Tech had watched a 13-point lead disappear, but the Yellow Jackets knew exactly how much time they had left to make amends.”
The highest-ranked Clemson game on ESPN’s list is the 46-45 loss to Duke at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 1, coming in as the 14th-best game of the 2025 campaign.
The Tigers piled up 560 yards of total offense but allowed a touchdown and two-point conversion with 40 seconds to play in the loss to the Blue Devils.
It marked Duke’s first win at Clemson since 1980, and the Blue Devils’ win did not come without controversy. It appeared the Tigers had the game won with 43 seconds to play, but the back judge called Clemson cornerback Avieon Terrell for pass interference while covering Duke’s Que’Sean Brown on a fourth-and-10 play from the Clemson 18.
Instead of a Clemson victory, Duke scored one play later, then added the two-point conversion for the one-point win.
After the game, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney blasted that defensive pass interference call, which prolonged the game and gave Duke a first down inside the 5-yard line.
“I don’t even really know what to say about the last call,” Swinney said. “Y’all saw it. It shouldn’t come down to that. We had plenty of opportunities to win the game.
“But that’s one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in a game, ever, in my entire coaching career. Ever. In a situation like that… I don’t really know what else to say.”
The No. 1 game on ESPN’s list is Indiana’s thrilling 27-21 victory over Miami in the College Football Playoff national championship game on Jan. 19.
–Clemson Athletic Communications contributed to this story