The Clemson Tigers ended their 2024 season with mixed results. They posted another double-digit win season at 10–4 and secured their ninth ACC Championship under head coach Dabo Swinney.
It was also Swinney’s seventh appearance in the College Football Playoff (CFP). However, their national championship drought has now extended to five years. Looking ahead, analyst Josh Pate is confident Clemson will reclaim the ACC crown and win the national championship. But how realistic is that prediction?
Why Josh Pate and CFB Analysts Are Betting on Clemson to Win the 2025 National Championship
On the May 4 episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show, the analyst threw his full support behind Clemson as the legitimate pick to win the 2025 national championship—and he’s basing it on what he calls “mock draft science.”
Clemson is supposed to win the national championship this upcoming year. Who among us knew, right?” Pate said.
“The science is not going to fail us here. According to the mock draft community, we aggregated all of them… With that addition, Clemson: 3.2, on average, first-rounders for the upcoming NFL Draft. This is it, guys.”
Pate pointed out a compelling trend: five of the last six national champions also led in first-round NFL Draft picks the following spring.
His evidence includes the 2025 champions, Ohio State, who had four first-round picks; the 2023 Georgia Bulldogs, with five; the 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide, with six; and the 2020 LSU Tigers, with five. The lone outlier? The 2024 champion Michigan Wolverines have just one first-round pick.
Building on this trend, Pate argues that the strength of Clemson’s upcoming draft class could be a key indicator of their championship potential.
The following NFL Draft is about a year away, but early mock drafts already have Clemson leading the nation in projected first-round picks, with an impressive average of 3.2. Among their top prospects are DE T.J. Parker, DT Peter Woods, CB Avieon Terrell, QB Cade Klubnik, and WR Antonio Williams.
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Close behind are the Texas Longhorns, with an average of 2.6, followed by the Penn State Nittany Lions at 2.4. While mock drafts aren’t flawless, history suggests they tend to provide a fairly accurate reflection of future draft outcomes.
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