CBS Sports predicted the final win-loss record for every team in the ACC, and for Clemson, it’s a projected one-win improvement on last year’s disappointing campaign.

Coming off a 7-6 season in 2025, CBS Sports predicts the Tigers to go 8-4 during the upcoming season. That includes a projected 6-2 mark in ACC play, which would be a two-win improvement on last year’s 4-4 conference record.

Clemson will open the 2026 campaign against LSU on Sept. 5 (7:30 p.m., ABC) at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. CBS Sports projects Clemson to lose that contest, while suffering home losses to Miami (Oct. 3), Virginia Tech (Oct. 24) and South Carolina (Nov. 28).

That leaves projected Clemson wins vs. Georgia Southern (Sept. 12), vs. North Carolina (Sept. 19), at Cal (Sept. 25), vs. Charleston Southern (Oct. 17), at Florida State (Oct. 31), at Syracuse (Nov. 7), vs. Georgia Tech (Nov. 14), and at Duke (Nov. 20).

CBS Sports projects Clemson to finish fourth in the ACC standings and to play in the Gator Bowl instead of making the College Football Playoff.

“Dabo Swinney’s out to prove a point this fall at Clemson with a likely unranked team to begin the regular season,” CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford wrote. “The Tigers should have a stout defense, but breaking in a new quarterback, with Chad Morris returning as the program’s offensive mastermind, will have its growing pains. Unless Louisville or SMU struggles, losses to Miami and Virginia Tech would leave the Tigers outside the ACC title picture and likely on the wrong side of the College Football Playoff conversation, given projected setbacks to SEC programs that would bookend the campaign. Shockingly, the Gamecocks have won their last two trips to Death Valley under Shane Beamer.”

Last year’s 7-6 record marked the second-worst season in Swinney’s full 17 seasons as Clemson’s head coach. Clemson’s 4-4 mark in ACC play last season tied with four other teams for seventh place in the conference standings.

CBS Sports projects Miami to finish with an unblemished 12-0 record, including a 9-0 ACC record, en route to winning the 2026 ACC title and earning the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. SMU (11-1, 9-0 ACC) is projected as the ACC title game runner-up and No. 10 CFP seed.

Here’s the projected records for every ACC team on Clemson’s 2026 schedule, as predicted by CBS Sports:

Clemson’s 2026 ACC Schedule

• Sept. 19: vs. North Carolina (6-6, 4-4)
• Sept. 25 (Fri.): at Cal (7-5, 5-4)
• Oct. 3: vs. Miami (12-0, 9-0)
• Oct. 24: vs. Virginia Tech (8-4, 5-4)
• Oct. 31: at Florida State (6-6, 4-4)
• Nov. 7: at Syracuse (3-9, 1-8)
• Nov. 14: vs. Georgia Tech (7-5, 5-3)
• Nov. 20 (Fri.): at Duke (6-6, 4-5)