On Saturday Afternoon, the Clemson Tigers hit a shocking low as the Tigers dropped their second straight game at home, falling to 1-3 in stunning fashion against Syracuse. From the moment the game started, Syracuse looked like the better team, and Fran Brown looked like the better coach than Dabo Swinney.
The College Football Playoff went from almost guaranteed for this team to out of the question in a matter of weeks, as Clemson has become an absolute disaster. This team came into the season ranked 4th in the Country, returning the core of a team that won the ACC and went to the College Football Playoff.
Cade Klubnik has looked like a quarterback that should be benched through 4 games despite starting the season as a Heisman front-runner. The defense that had projected first-round picks at each level has gotten gashed in stunning fashion, which doesn't help with the struggles on offense.
This Clemson team has gone from a group that had so much excitement to an outright disaster and will be seen as one of the biggest flops of All-Time.
Where does Clemson land among the biggest disappointments of the last 10 years?
When you look at the recent history, few teams stack up in terms of the shocking disappointment that Clemson has been. Before this season, you could form a Top 5 of the most disappointing teams of the last decade, but none of them have been quite like this collapse from Clemson.
6. 2020 LSU Tigers
Coming off of one of the greatest seasons of All-Time, it was going to be almost impossible for LSU to follow it up, yet the AP shockingly ranked them as the 6th best team in the Country. The Tigers proved that was far too high as soon as the season began as they made Mississippi State look like the Greatest Show on Turf. The Tigers' quest for back-to-back National Championships ended with a 5-5 record, making them a clear flop with the expectations they had coming into the season.
5. 2024 Florida State Seminoles
Coming off of a season where the Florida State Seminoles went undefeated in the regular season and won the ACC Championship, the 2024 Seminoles entered the season ranked 10th in the AP Poll. The defensive line was hyped as the best group in the Country while the addition of DJ Uiagalelei at quarterback brought a ton of buzz.
Instead, the Seminoles were an absolute disaster, finishing the season with a startling 2-10 record, which doesn't speak to just how lifeless the team was in most of their games. The season was an absolute disaster, and it made everyone question whether or not Mike Norvell was the man for the job. Norvell has quieted the noise in 2025, which makes the 2024 results much harder to understand.
4. 2023 USC Trojans
The USC Trojans came into the 2023 season with all of the buzz as they returned the Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams, and entered the season 6th in the AP Poll. The first 6 games of the season made this team look like world beaters as the offense was firing on all cylinders, leading the team to a 6-0 start. The back half of the season saw the team fall apart, losing 5 games where the defense looked like the worst unit in the Country.
3. 2022 Texas A&M Aggies
The Texas A&M Aggies entered the 2022 season as the 6th-ranked team in the Country, and it looked like Jimbo Fisher could finally make the College Football Playoff. The season kicked off with a win, and then all of the hope died with a stunning loss to App State in Week 2. Fisher would win some goodwill back with Top 25 wins over Miami and Arkansas, but 6 straight losses followed, making the season an absolute disaster.
2. 2018 Wisconsin Badgers
Coming off a 13-1 season, the Wisconsin Badgers had all of the hype in the world starting the season as the 4th-ranked team in the AP Poll. The Badgers returned quarterback Alex Hornibrook and Jonathan Taylor, among several other key pieces that made them look like a contender for the College Football Playoff. The Badgers had their season derailed in an early-season loss at home to BYU before losing 4 of their final 8 games, making a season that started with Playoff hopes a disaster.
1. 2025 Clemson Tigers
This year's Clemson Football team may go down as one of the most overhyped teams of All-Time considering the buzz they got and how quickly it faded away. The Tigers came into the season as the 4th ranked team in the Country while their quarterback Cade Klubnik was a Heisman front-runner. It wasn't just Cade Klubnik garnering attention as players like Peter Woods, TJ Parker, Antonio Williams, and Avieon Terrell were all being mocked as 1st round picks.
Instead, the Tigers opened the season with a loss to the LSU Tigers, which was acceptable given the expectations around LSU. The following weekend, Clemson's only win of the season came when the Tigers needed a comeback to beat Troy at home. The following weekend, Clemson fell to 1-2 with a loss to Georgia Tech, where the Tigers made mistake after mistake. The week 4 loss killed any hopes of the College Football Playoff that were left as the Tigers got stunned at home against Syracuse.
The Tigers have to be considered the biggest failure of the expanded College Football Playoff era given how everyone penciled them in as ACC Champions and contenders to win the National Championship. Dabo Swinney has received hate from the fanbase in the past but, the loss to Syracuse has tensions at an All-Time high.
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