Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers have been hit with a stark reality check heading into next season.
The Clemson Tigers are coming off of their most disappointing season in years, as they went just 7-6 in spite of entering 2025 with national championship aspirations.
Clemson never resembled a serious contender at any point this year. Not in the midst of its 1-3 start, and certainly not during its lifeless Pinstripe Bowl loss to Penn State.
And unfortunately for the Tigers, things may not be getting a whole lot better in the near future.
ESPN's Mark Schlabach has released his way-too-early top 25 rankings for the 2026 college football campaign, and Clemson didn't even make the list.
Remember: the Tigers actually went into this past season ranked No. 4 in the AP poll, and they have not entered a season unranked since 2011.
That was just Swinney's third year with the program and followed a 2010 campaign in which Clemson went 6-7, its worst finish of the Swinney era.
It should be noted that the Tigers proceeded to go 10-4 in 2011 and were ranked as high as sixth during the season, but that team also had Tajih Boyd at quarterback.
Clemson Tigers coach Dabo Swinney. Credit: Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK.This current Clemson squad doesn't appear to boast the same level of talent as that particular team, and the Tigers don't even know who will be starting under for them come the season opener.
Many felt that Clemson would add a quarterback via the transfer portal, but instead, the Tigers seem content to roll with one of Christopher Vizzina or Chris Denson.
At this point, Clemson will likely have to settle for one of those two relatively underwhelming options, as most of the top quarterbacks are all off the board (and the Tigers almost certainly aren't landing Darian Mensah).
To be fair, Clemson has been significantly more active in the transfer portal this year than previous offseasons, so Swinney is clearly open to change.
The question is, was this an unfortunate case of too little, too late for Swinney?
The two-time national champion coach is facing a bit of pressure going into 2026, as some fans are beginning to lose patience with him.
Whether or not the Tigers are able to bounce back from their disastrous 2025 showing remains to be seen.