Clemson’s Collapse: How Dabo Swinney's Tigers Already Fell Out of Playoff Contention

After suffering their third loss in four games, it’s grown increasingly clear that the Clemson Tigers will not be competing for a College Football Playoff spot.

On Saturday, the Syracuse Orange shocked Clemson, pulling off an improbable 34-21 victory as a 16.5-point underdog.

Clemson has more rain delays than they do victories in their 2025 football campaign, and it’s certainly time to examine how a once-prominent college football program has suffered such a fall from grace.

The Tigers were 10-4 last season, including a 7-1 record in the ACC. They were able to bring home their conference-leading 22nd ACC Championship title after upsetting SMU as a 2.5-point underdog. This championship win gave the Tigers a berth in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, where they were promptly bounced by the Texas Longhorns, who would eventually make it to the Cotton Bowl semifinal game against Ohio State.

This preseason, the expectation was for Clemson to defend their ACC throne. The Tigers opened as a -110 favorite on FanDuel Sportsbook to win their conference for the ninth time in 11 seasons. Barring something unforeseen, that officially looks like a pipe dream.

The reality for Clemson is that the college football landscape has changed tremendously.

The Tigers returned senior quarterback Cade Klubnik, who had genuine No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft aspirations just a few weeks ago.

Despite Klubnik’s return, Clemson has struggled. The 21 year-old quarterback's draft stock has plummeted. Head coach Dabo Swinney is notoriously against the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness (NIL). Just last year, the 55-year-old head coach proclaimed that NIL is not everything, but assured fans that the program was going to do whatever it took to stay relevant in recruiting.

Prior to this season, Swinney confessed that he considered walking away from college football because of NIL.

Swinney has won two national championships for the Tigers, but his previous success is doing him very little favors presently.

During Saturday’s embarrassment against Syracuse, Klubnik had to throw the ball 60 times to try and get the Tigers back into the game. That’s the most drop backs for a Clemson quarterback since Deshaun Watson was under center.

Watson is not walking through that door. Neither is Trevor Lawrence.

Swinney has to go back to the drawing board this offseason, as it looks as if his 2025 campaign is already sunk. He probably needs to put his personal feelings aside and do what it takes to compete in a modern college football landscape.