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Clemson

Tigers · ACC

Head coach Dabo Swinney

Season Projection · 2026 W0

10,000 sims
7.7
Expected wins
8-4
Proj record
4 to 11
Win range (90%)
#37 (18–63)
Final rank (90%)
4%
Make playoff
7%
Win conference

Path to Glory

Tap a win or a loss on each pivotal game to see how the playoff probability shifts. Leave any game unset to average across both outcomes.

Make the playoff

4%

Baseline projection.

  • vs Miami
    Home · Oct 3
  • at Duke
    Away · Nov 21
  • at Florida State
    Away · Oct 31
  • at LSU
    Away · Sep 5
  • vs Georgia Tech
    Home · Nov 14

Pivotal games are the 5 with the largest playoff-probability swing, ranked by the model. Math: chained Bayesian log-odds update from the conditional simulation set; gets the directionally right answer but won't perfectly capture cross-game correlations until the full Monte Carlo pipeline lands.

Returning production · 2026

48 score
  • Quarterback 17% (3/6 )
  • Offensive line 64% (14/22 players)
  • Skill (RB/WR/TE) 58% (23/33 )
  • Front 7 (DL/LB) 59% (22/35 )
  • Secondary 51% (12/21 )
  • Special teams 96% (5/9 )

Share of last season's production each unit returns. Higher means more continuity: 70%+ is healthy, 45–70% a normal rebuild, under 45% a major turnover.

Portal additions · 2026

+0.2 rating

12 proven transfers in, carrying the production below from their prior school.

  • Jerome Carter III S ← Old Dominion 184 impact
  • Corey Myrick S ← Southern Miss 156 impact
  • Chris Johnson Jr. RB ← SMU 92 impact
  • London Merritt DE ← Colorado 85 impact
  • Elliot Washington II CB ← Penn State 46 impact
  • Devarrick Woods DT ← Texas State 37 impact

Impact scores offensive skill additions (QB/RB/WR/TE) — prior-season production normalized within position (100 ≈ a 90th-percentile producer at that spot) and discounted for non-FBS competition, so a top back counts alongside a top quarterback. Defensive and O-line additions count as transfers but aren't box-score measurable, so they carry no impact score. The rating figure is this class's portal contribution vs. the FBS average, capped at ±2.5.

If QB1 is out (Cade Klubnik)

GIE projects a -3.1 rating drop and a -12.2pp shift in playoff probability if Clemson loses its QB1 for an extended stretch. (n=1 historical samples; pooled across recent seasons.)

Situational efficiency · 2025

FBS percentile rank
  • 3rd-down conversion 31.6% 23th — bottom tier
  • Red-zone TD rate 8.5% 12th — bottom tier
  • 4th-down aggression 42.1% 74th — strong
  • Late & close 4.8 yds/play 40th — below avg

Percentile is across all FBS teams with play-by-play data for the season. "Late & close" is yards per play in Q4+ with a one-score margin — a proxy for clutch offensive performance.

Schedule

Full 2026 slate. Tap a row for the matchup breakdown.

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More coming

Per-team pages get the full treatment in Phase 3: current rating, season projection histogram, schedule with win probabilities, and live overlays on Pylon stream days. For now, this page exists so stories and news have a permanent home as content rolls in.