If CBS Sports analyst Chip Patterson is right, Clemson football is on track for its longest season yet—ending with a shot at the national championship in Miami.
To mark the 100-day countdown to college football’s Week 0, CBS unveiled a batch of bold predictions for the 2025 season. One of the biggest came from Patterson, who picked Clemson to return to the national title game for the first time since 2019—and for the first time in the new 12-team College Football Playoff format.
“Dabo Swinney has made the College Football Playoff National Championship four times, winning twice,” Patterson said. “Though they’ve returned to the CFP twice since then (2020, 2024), they haven’t quite shown the same ceiling. The 2025 edition of Clemson checks all the boxes for a title run.”
Patterson believes this year’s team is built to compete at the highest level, led by one of the nation’s top quarterbacks in Cade Klubnik and a defensive front loaded with NFL talent. He highlighted standouts like T.J. Parker and Peter Woods—both projected high draft picks for 2026—as well as young skill players like Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore, who flashed potential as freshmen last season.
He placed Clemson in his top tier of national title contenders alongside Georgia, Texas, Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, LSU, Penn State, and Notre Dame.
If Clemson lands a Top 4 seed, they’d get a first-round bye and likely open their playoff run at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, the same site as the national championship on Jan. 19, 2026. From there, they’d advance to either the Fiesta Bowl or Peach Bowl for the semifinals.
Patterson also pointed to Clemson’s matchups against LSU and in-state rival South Carolina as key non-conference games that could shape the Tigers’ resume—and their road to Miami.
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