In an episode of his college football show, national analyst Josh Pate locked in his final conference and College Football Playoff predictions, and he predicted Clemson to reach the 2026 ACC Championship Game.

Pate now predicts a conference championship matchup between Miami and Clemson, with the Tigers falling to the Hurricanes.

“I’ve got Miami over Clemson in the ACC,” Pate said.

It’s a change from his previous projection that had Miami facing off against SMU in the ACC title game.

“In the ACC, once upon a time, I had Miami over SMU,” he said.

Pate says he’s “willingly or through force” been swayed into buying the stock of the Tigers, and he thinks Dabo Swinney’s team will outperform the expectations of many who are down on the program following its disappointing 7-6 campaign last year.

While Pate believes Miami will win the conference and then ultimately claim the national championship over Oregon, he thinks Clemson’s decline isn’t as drastic as the public generally views it to be.

“Guys, I’ve gotta tell you something, and I want to whisper this, because this could go up in flames early. I have either willingly or through force been talked into Clemson being a little bit better/a lot better than what most of America expects from them,” Pate said. “Dabo Swinney did nothing to me when we went over there this spring. This is not dark magic. This is nothing like that. This is just me thinking the public has sold way too hard here, and it may just be one of those classic cases of a team achieving more the year after a lot is expected.”

Pate is high on the “team dynamic” at Clemson and sees a viable path to the conference title game because the Tigers don’t play in the SEC or Big Ten.

“Because I will tell you this, I really like the dynamic at Clemson right now — the team dynamic,” Pate said. “If I threw them in the Big Ten or the SEC, no, they may not compete. But they’re in the ACC. I don’t even care if they go and lose to LSU in Week 1. In fact, them losing to LSU in Week 1 may make this even better. Because then Dabo really gets to play the ‘us against the world, everyone’s forgot us’ mentality.

“I think Miami and Clemson are going to play twice this year. Once in the regular season, once in the ACC title game.”

The regular season matchup between the Tigers and Hurricanes is set for Oct. 3 at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium. The ACC Championship Game will kick off at noon on Dec. 5 (ABC) at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Clemson opens the season as a 10.5-point underdog on the road against LSU on Sept. 5 (7:30 p.m., ABC).

Pate added that if Clemson manages to pull off the Week 1 upset, the Week 5 matchup against Miami will vault into a national “marquee spotlight game.”

“And by the way, speaking of that Week 1 game… That Week 1 game, Clemson at LSU… LSU is a healthy favorite, 10.5 [points]. Don’t let Clemson win that game. Don’t do it,” Pate said. “Because if Clemson wins that game, Miami at Clemson in Week 5 becomes a huge, marquee spotlight game out of the blue, and no one expected that. And buddy, the press conference for Dabo after that game, if they were to somehow go down to LSU — some of you think LSU should be favored by three and a half touchdowns.”