Clemson Tigers 2025 College Football Preview
Posted July 9, 2025
2024 Recap
Record – 10-4
ATS – 6-8
“Boris the Blade, or Boris the ‘Bullet Dodger’. As bent as the Soviet sickle, and as hard as the hammer that crosses it. Apparently, it’s just impossible to kill the bastard.”
<Turkish> played by Jason Statham
<Snatch>
Clemson just refused to quit. They got blown out by Georgia in the season opener and took a bad home loss to the Cardinals later in the season (L 33-21). Making the ACC Championship Game looked impossible, but thanks to an epic choke job by YOUR Miami Hurricanes, the Tigers punched a ticket to Charlotte. Clemson slithered past SMU on a last-second FG from DOWNTOWN (56 yards), and that sealed another ACC title. Clemson faced mighty Texas in the College Football Playoff and didn’t really have a chance (L 38-24), but they get full marks for another successful campaign.
Clemson Tigers 2025 Outlook
OFFENSE
The Clemson offense produced their best output (34.7 PPG, #18 FBS) since the 2020 PLANDEMIC season and it was thanks in large part to the excellent play of emerging star QB Cade Klubnik (36-6 TD to INT!, 463 rush, 7 TD). Klubnik returns for his senior season and he’ll be MATRICULATING the ball down the field with the help of one of the best WR groups in the country. Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco Jr., and T.J. Moore combined for an impossibly impossible 2,263 yards and 21 TDs last season and it’s almost certain that the group hasn’t reached their potential as of yet. Losing 1,00-yard RB Phil “He’s a Bad” Mafah isn’t great and we’ll see if another legit #1 RB emerges from the depth chart. Maybe it’ll be highly-touted true freshman Gideon Davidson? The offensive line has a ton of experience and looks like one of the best fronts in the ACC, and don’t forget that they played much better down the stretch LY once they shook the major side effects of the injury bug.
DEFENSE
The Tigers allowed 23 PPG LY (#49) and it was the third consecutive season that the Tigers got worse in that particular metric (23.4 LY, 21.1, 20.9, 14.8). The main culprit was a porous run defense (#85)(!) that allowed 260+ yards on the ground in three of their final four games. We like what we see heading into 2025 and expect the Tigers to get back to their nasty ways on defense. The DL is absolutely loaded and filled with talented specimens such as DT Peter Woods (8.5 TFL, 5 QBH) and DE TJ Parker (11 sacks, 19.5 TFL, 13 QBH)(!) and they’ve got one of the best LB tandems in the country in Wade Woodaz (#1 tackles, 10 TFL, 10 QBH) and sophomore Sammy Brown (#2 tackles, 11.5 TFL). Almost everyone returns on the back end and we forecast a strong year for the pass defense, particularly given their ability to harass the quarterback.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Tigers boast a talented, albeit occasionally erratic PK in Nolan Hauser (18/24 FG, 59/60 XP LY) but they need to find a new punter. Clemson could use a bit more juice in the return game (#59 PR, #90 KR).
Schedule Analysis
Overall – It’s an official POO SANDWICH. They start with LSU and end with South Carolina, and there are lots of turds in between those games. Clemson gets SMU at home and must travel to face LUA-VUH in mid-November.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – Troy (Sept 6)
The Tigers will be laying a bundle of points in this game and they’ll be coming off the epic battle with LSU. Oh, and the ACC opener is on deck (at Georgia Tech). This doesn’t appear to be a great spot to back the yuuuge home favorite.
Season Win Total
Market consensus July 9
Over 9.5 -210
Under 9.5 +170
MEGALOCKS says:
Lean: Over
We don’t love the price (-210) but it’s hard to see these guys losing three games. We’ll shop around over the summer and see what other options we can find.
Note – Our official list of season win total investments will be posted in the blog section of the website.
MEGAmazing Tidbits
Clemson is a very impressive 50-36-3 ATS (58%) in ACC action over the L10Y.
HC Dabo Swinney has guided the Tigers to NINE ACC Championships and a pair of National Championships (2016, 2018). That’s the stuff of legends, yo.
Your boy BRENT MUSBURGER dubbed the team entrance, running down the hill in Death Valley as the “most exciting 25 seconds in college football”.
MEGALOCKS Forecast:
“Welcome to the Goodie Room.”
<Studio Executive, Rob Slolom>
<Tropic Thunder>
This is the most excited we’ve been for Clemson football in a number of years. QB Cade Klubnik has emerged into a legit star and the Tigers will be scoring points in bunches. The defense will be one of the best in college football and you know that Dabo Swinney knows how to win big games. Clemson is our chalky PICK to CLICK in the ACC and they’ve got a great shot to win the whole thing at decent odds in the futures market.