It didn’t take long for the wheels to fall off of Clemson’s 2025 season. The Tigers entered the year with high hopes and an equally high No. 4 ranking in the AP Top 25 poll, marking them as serious contenders for a national title — on paper, at least.
But a third of the way through actual games Clemson looks like a team that will have to battle for bowl eligibility all year long. The Tigers’ record dropped to 1-3 with Saturday afternoon’s 34-21 home loss to Syracuse.
Clemson fell behind 24-7 with over nine minutes left in the second quarter and never got close to battling back. The Tigers had a couple of opportunities to cut the margin late in the fourth, but quarterback Cade Klubnik tossed one interception on an ill-fated fourth-and-10 conversion attempt and then sailed one past any wide receiver on a later fourth-and-5 attempt.
Klubnik’s incompletion allowed Syracuse to bleed the clock on one of the Orange’s biggest wins in recent memory. Syracuse improved to 2-10 against Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, and the Orange did it without starting quarterback Steve Angeli for a majority of the second half.
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Clemson actually outgained Syracuse, 503-433, but the Tigers were just 3-of-13 on third downs and 1-of-5 on fourth downs. Klubnik, a preseason Heisman Trophy contender, averaged just over six yards per attempt and tossed that back-breaking interception against a Syracuse secondary that ranks third-worst in the ACC in pass defense.
The result, in a vacuum, is inexcusable for a Clemson team that boasts one of college football’s most experienced rosters, laden with potential NFL Draft picks — especially on the defensive side of the ball. A deeper dive into the numbers reveals how truly disastrous this loss is for Swinney:
- This is the first time that Clemson has started 1-3 under Swinney.
- This is Clemson’s largest home loss since 2013 and its largest home loss versus an AP-unranked team under Swinney.
- Clemson has now lost four straight home games against power conference opponents.
- This is the first time that Clemson has lost three regular-season home games in its first four games since 2002-03.
- Clemson is the first AP preseason top-4 team to start 1-3 since Florida State in 2017, and just the second since 2000.
- Over the last 15 seasons, Clemson was 88-5 in its first 93 games at home and 2-4 since.
Clemson was also a 17.5-point favorite against the Orange. The Tigers were 30-0 in their last 30 games as 17-plus point favorites.
To make matters worse, Swinney’s squad is already 0-2 in ACC play. Clemson has lost more than two conference games just once since 2015. It still has to play No. 7 Florida State and has a tough road trip to Louisville on the schedule, as well as home games against preseason top-25 team SMU.
Clemson returned to the College Football Playoff last season because it won in the ACC Championship Game. The Tigers may need a miracle to get anywhere near Charlotte this year.
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