In a recent episode of his college football show, national analyst Josh Pate highlighted Clemson as one of six teams facing heavy pressure this fall.

Pate says Clemson is firmly “on the clock” and in must-win mode for the 2026 season, because an automatic “bounce-back” year can’t be assumed after Dabo Swinney’s program slipped to a 7-6 record in 2025.

Two years ago, Clemson returned to the College Football Playoff as part of the inaugural 12-team bracket (No. 12 seed vs. No. 5 Texas). But instead of taking the next step forward last year, the program took “a couple of steps backwards,” as Pate put it.

“They played in Austin in a playoff game two years ago, which meant this time last year, it was time for Clemson to take the dreaded ‘next step.’ And they did, it was just a step backwards. A couple of steps backwards, actually,” Pate said. “Now normally, when you have expectations, and you fall short in college football, there are two words that sort of circle around the program through the entirety of winter and spring and summer, and those two words are ‘bounce back.’ Because automatically when you’re down one year, it’s like a tennis ball. It’s like a little ping-pong ball, it just bounces back.

“Well, Clemson’s on the clock for obvious reasons. Last year was bad. But also, because everyone expects them to bounce back. Well, everyone inside Clemson expects them to bounce back. I don’t know that that’s a given.”

Pate pointed out that last year’s Clemson roster “definitively” looked better on paper than this year’s team, after the Tigers lost a lot of key talent. Clemson had nine players selected in the 2026 NFL Draft, tying the program record for the most selections in a single seven-round draft.

“Like last year’s roster definitively looks better than this year’s roster,” Pate said. “And I know Dabo was on our show, and he’s been at his own podium and he’s been very vocal, doing the whole, ‘We’re just a bunch of nobodies. We’re going to try and win a few games. We’ll just see what happens.’”

Pate added that Clemson’s situation is “not quite that dire” as Swinney says. However, Pate believes if the Tigers don’t improve upon last year’s results, the conversation around the program and Swinney himself will get “really uncomfortable.”

“So it’s not assumed that you just bounce back,” Pate said. “Because as much as you want to maybe assume that, I’ve got to go on the other side of the coin. And if we flip this coin… if we flip it over, there is an uncomfortable scenario on the other side of the paper that says… what if last year was the last year? What if last year was the last shot?

 “I’m just sayin’, what if it’s no better this year than it was last year? It gets really uncomfortable,” Pate said. “So, I think Clemson, for many reasons, is on the clock.”

Pate says that while a Clemson bounce-back can’t be assumed, he’s hoping for Swinney and the Tigers to turn things around.

“It’s just good for business for us when Clemson is good,” Pate said. “Got a lot of friends over there. I’m not fighting it. I’m just trying not to get sucked into it. I’m trying not to get sucked into the automatic assumption that if something goes bad one year, it rebounds the next year. This is, after all, the natural life cycle of things in college football — no, it’s not.”

In addition to Clemson, Pate named in-state rival South Carolina as being “on the clock” this season, along with ACC foe Florida State, and also Texas, Texas Tech and Southern Cal.