Who got it right with Clemson football's preseason ranking: Coaches Poll or AP poll?
Monday's reveal of the preseason AP Top 25 poll produced a few different results from the previous week's US LBM Coaches Poll.
While the team at the top remained the same in both polls with the Texas Longhorns at No. 1, there was a different team at No. 2 with Penn State replacing Ohio State for the runner-up spot in the AP poll.
The Clemson Tigers got a better ranking from the various sportswriters and broadcasters who make up the AP's poll. Dabo Swinney's team was ranked No. 4 by the media, up two spots from where the 60-plus coaches in the US LBM poll had them.
Which poll got it right?
USA TODAY Sports college football analyst Blake Toppmeyer pondered that question with regard to eight top 25 teams and their discrepancies from one preseason poll to the other. For Clemson, Toppmeyer believes that AP voters got it right by slotting the Tigers at No. 4.
"Clemson finished with four losses last season, but never mind that fading object in the rearview mirror, because Dabo Swinney retained a talented roster that's now more experienced. He even added some polish with a few transfers. Clemson touts the nation's best defensive line, along with arguably the nation's top quarterback, Cade Klubnik. The Tigers aren't just contenders inside the ACC. They're national championship contenders." --USA TODAY Sports' Blake Toppmeyer on Clemson.
Earlier this week, CBS Sports argued that even the Tigers' No. 4 ranking was low.
There is, of course, a word of caution about getting too carried away by preseason rankings, regardless of your poll of choice. The 2024 Florida State Seminoles were the toast of the ACC entering last season after going 13-0 to win the league in 2023, only to flop right out of the gate after a preseason top 10 ranking to finish 2-10.
It's not just Mike Norvell's 2024 'Noles, either. USC, Oklahoma, Auburn and Texas A&M are just a few of the more frequent disappointments from the past 10 years of preseason poll rankings, as On3's Brett McMurphy recently posited.
Twice in the past four years, Clemson's own preseason rankings have yielded some fairly disappointing results by season's end. The Tigers were ranked No. 9 entering the 2023 season but stumbled in a rare four-loss season to No. 20 in the final Coaches Poll. After checking in at No. 2 entering 2021, Clemson landed at No. 16 in the final poll.
Conversely, it was 10 years ago this season when the Tigers ranked outside the preseason top 10, only to finish as runner-up to Alabama after falling just one or two plays short against Nick Saban's 2015 Crimson Tide in the national championship game in Glendale, Arizona.
When it comes to preseason polls, things are seldom an exact science.
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Clemson football schedule 2025
Clemson opens the 2025 season against the LSU Tigers at Memorial Stadium in prime time on Aug. 30. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ABC. LSU is ranked No. 9 in both the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Top 25.
All times Eastern.
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