Going into the 2026 season, Clemson wasn’t ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll for the first time since 2011, while the Tigers were ranked No. 23 in the preseason Coaches Poll — Clemson’s lowest preseason Coaches Poll ranking since 2011, when the Tigers started the year unranked.

Following a disappointing 7–6 campaign last year, expectations were tempered for Dabo Swinney’s program entering this season, but still centered around a significant bounce-back.

Unfortunately, that has yet to really materialize on the field for a Clemson team that is unranked and currently sits at 3-2, including a 2-1 mark in the ACC. The two losses (to LSU and Miami) have been very lopsided, coming by a total of 69 points.

All that is part of why Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde named Clemson as one of college football’s nine biggest midseason “busts”.

“The Tigers are coming off an open date and have a get-well offensive game against FCS opponent Charleston Southern before entering the latter half of the season. They need it,” Forde wrote. “Clemson is tied for last nationally in touchdown passes with two, and is dead last in TDs as a percentage of total passes at 1.3%.”

Forde noted that because Clemson is in an “uninspiring,” muddled ACC behind the clear frontrunner in Miami, and because the Tigers don’t have any ranked opponents on their remaining schedule, “a sideways scramble to Charlotte” for the ACC Championship Game is still a possibility.

However, he says there’s simply “no confusing this Clemson team with vintage Clemson teams.”

“In the uninspiring muddle of the ACC after Miami, the Tigers could still win several games and give Dabo Swinney a chance for one more told-you-so tour,” Forde wrote. “But there is no confusing this Clemson team with vintage Clemson teams. It’s not there.”

Coming off the 41-13 loss to Miami on Oct. 3 and then the open date last weekend, the Tigers will try to regain some momentum Saturday vs. Charleston Southern (12 p.m., ACC Network) before getting back into their ACC schedule on Oct. 24 vs. Virginia Tech.

Along with Clemson, Forde listed Texas A&M, Penn State, Oregon, LSU, Washington, Michigan, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt as the biggest busts midway through the 2026 season.