During ABC’s broadcast of the Clemson-Miami game on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium, game analyst Kirk Herbstreit, alongside play-by-play voice Chris Fowler, didn’t hold back while analyzing Clemson’s trajectory following two lopsided losses to top-tier teams through the first five games of the 2026 season.

Entering the Week 5 matchup against the fourth-ranked Hurricanes, Herbstreit framed the primetime game in Death Valley as a “mulligan” or chance at a “do-over” for Dabo Swinney’s squad after the season-opening 51-10 loss at LSU.

But the only do-over that actually happened was Clemson being dealt another decisive defeat, this time at the hands of Miami, 41-13. The 28-point defeat marked the fourth-worst loss for Clemson under Swinney and the second-largest home loss in the Swinney era.

Late in the fourth quarter, with Miami holding a 34-13 lead at the time, Herbstreit and Fowler’s broadcast commentary centered around Clemson’s struggles against elite opponents and the current gap between Clemson and elite programs.

The commentators noted that while the Tigers remain highly competitive against standard ACC competition — evidenced by their three-game winning streak leading into the game, including wins over North Carolina and Cal – Clemson has been completely blown out on the national stage. Their losses to LSU and Miami this season have come by a combined score of 92-23.

The booth also touched on how Swinney’s program used to be a standard-bearer in college football, but has lost that status in the modern era of the sport defined by the transfer portal and NIL.

The Tigers resided at college football’s mountaintop after winning national titles in 2016 and 2018, as part of the program’s remarkable run of success from 2015-20, when they won six straight ACC titles and made six consecutive College Football Playoff appearances while playing for four national championships.

Swinney’s four national championship game appearances are more than any other active coach, and Swinney and Georgia’s Kirby Smart are the only active coaches with multiple national titles. In 13 of the last 15 years, Clemson has won 10-plus games. However, the Tigers have won fewer than 10 in two of the last three years while making the playoff just once in the last five seasons.

Coming off a 7-6 campaign in 2025 that marked the second-worst record in Swinney’s tenure, Clemson fell to 3-2 (2-1 ACC) this season with Saturday’s loss to Miami.

You can read the commentary from Herbstreit and Fowler about the Clemson program during the Miami game below:

Herbstreit: “What about Clemson, sitting here now at 3-2, and where do you go from here? They’re going to be favored in a lot of games that they have coming up. But between the LSU game on a big stage, now this Miami game on a big stage – it doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t feel good.”

Fowler: “Because you’re Clemson and what you’ve achieved, and the players you have on this roster – there’s a lot of dudes on this roster, in the words of both coaches, really. But how you handle the middling teams in the ACC is really not how you expect Clemson to be judged.

“Yeah, they will go home unhappy here, and I think your question is a valid one. Bye, Charleston Southern – they have that kind of midseason scrimmage game – then it’s back to the ACC schedule.”

Herbstreit: “Virginia Tech. At Florida State, who beat Virginia today convincingly. At Syracuse. Georgia Tech.”

Fowler: “South Carolina, having a rough season. Doesn’t look as imposing as this in-state rivalry often is.”

Herbstreit: “I guess I’m talking more of not this season – I guess I’m looking at it broader, as far as Clemson used to be part of setting the standard and the bar in the sport, for about six, seven, eight, 10 years. And they’ve lost that grip in this new era – whether it’s portal, NIL, whatever you want to say. They have participated a lot more this year in the portal.

“But it just has a different vibe and a different energy around the program over the last few years.”

Fowler: “I think it’s very fair to say. Because they’re not judged by how you handle the middle teams. They have been one of the standards of the sport. Now, you look at it, you’re 2-1 in the ACC. Is it a lost cause to get to Charlotte to play for the ACC Championship, which carries an automatic bid into the playoff this year? No. But I agree. They don’t look the same.”

Herbstreit: “No, and it’s not just the high-profile games, just losing to LSU – it’s honestly getting embarrassed, right. And then coming back on a big stage again against a good Miami team, and again, it’s not like it’s a heartbreaker down to the end. It’s 34-13 right now. Just kind of getting outclassed in both of those two matchups.”