The Clemson Tigers wrapped up their 2024 season with an ACC Championship and a 10-4 record, bringing Dabo Swinney’s coaching record to 180-47 over his 17 years heading the program. Swinney is one of only three active head coaches who have won a national title, having led his team to titles in 2016 and 2018.
Dabo Swinney, Clemson Tigers Facing Immense Pressure in Upcoming Season
With this knowledge, On3’s J.D. Pickell, who listed his top 10 coaches on the outlet’s YouTube channel on Jan. 29, mentioned Swinney as his seventh-ranked pick.
“The resume speaks for itself,” Pickell said. “Two national titles — one other coach in the sport has that right now that’s currently coaching — seven playoff appearances, just won his ninth ACC title, a 79% win percentage.”
However, with the sport constantly changing, including the change to a 12-team playoff format, the analyst wondered whether Clemson could continue to achieve the same level of success. When the four-team format began, the team made the playoffs six times in a row.
“I’m a little bit curious, in the trend of where college football is heading, will Clemson evolve enough and adapt enough to keep the same level of success they’ve had? Pickell asked.
“… You see the sport start to change, what do great coaches do? They adapt. [Nick] Saban did it, Kirby [Smart] did it, Ryan Day did it. Is Clemson going to adapt enough to be able to still be a top tier team in college football?”
One way that Clemson is adapting is by hiring Tom Allen, the former defensive coordinator for Penn State, to train the Tigers.
In their 2024 campaign, the Tigers won the ACC titles as underdogs and made it to the College Football Playoff for the first time in four years. But looking ahead to the 2025 season, ESPN’s Bill Connelly isn’t too sunny about Clemson either.
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In his list of early projections, he predicted that the Louisville Cardinals would defeat Clemson in the regular-season game scheduled for Nov. 14 and make it to the 2025 ACC Championship game. This would mean that Clemson might miss out on the 12-team playoff next season if the season plays out this way.
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