Where ESPN ranks Clemson's 2025 schedule among toughest, easiest in college football

USA Today

13 hours ago

Week 1 of the 2025 college football season is less than a month away, and the Clemson Tigers have officially reported to fall camp.
The Tigers, named the preseason favorites to win the ACC in the conference media poll, will face LSU on Aug. 30 at Memorial Stadium in a matchup that's as big as season openers get these days. A Clemson win would send a signal to the rest of college football that Dabo Swinney's Tigers are not only back, but that they're a serious threat to compete for the national title.
A loss to LSU would hardly be fatal to Clemson's hopes of reaching the expanded College Football Playoff, but it would continue the narrative that the Tigers have been surpassed by their SEC counterparts after going 0-3 against them in head-to-head play last year, and just 3-7 since the 2019 national title game.
As for the rest of Clemson's 2025 slate, ESPN senior college football writer Chris Low took a look at the toughest and easiest schedules for every Power Four conference team and FBS member. Here's what Low said about the Tigers' 2025 schedule.
Clemson has toughest nonconference Power Four schedule, ESPN says
In addition to Clemson's season opener with LSU, the Tigers will close the regular season against a South Carolina program that's on the rise after going 9-3 a year ago and winning their second straight trip to Death Valley.
Having to face LSU's Garrett Nussmeier and South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers gives Clemson the toughest nonconference Power Four schedule in the nation, Low says. The veteran ESPN scribe put the Tigers' 12-game slate ahead of Stanford and Miami for the most difficult schedule (the Hurricanes face Notre Dame and the Florida Gators in nonconference play).
"This was a coin flip between Clemson and Stanford until quarterback Jake Retzlaff departed BYU. Now the trip to No. 10 BYU on Sept. 6 doesn't look quite as daunting for the Cardinal, who end the season Nov. 29 at home against No. 7 Notre Dame. So Clemson gets the nod. The Tigers open the season Aug. 31 at home against No. 6 LSU, then close the season Nov. 29 on the road against bitter rival South Carolina, which is ranked No. 13. Clemson also faces Troy, a top contender in the Sun Belt Conference, at home a week after the LSU opener." --Chris Low, ESPN
Low also put Clemson's matchups with LSU and South Carolina on his list of college football's 12 "must-see" games for 2025.
Can Clemson, Dabo Swinney reverse fortunes against SEC heavyweights?
For the second straight year and the third time since 2021, Clemson opens the season with a marquee nonconference showdown against an SEC opponent. The Tigers fell to the Georgia Bulldogs, 34-3, in Week 1 last year at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Clemson has dropped two of the past three meetings against South Carolina, as well as a lopsided defeat against Tennessee in the 2022 Orange Bowl, and a loss the 2021 opener against Georgia in Charlotte. The Tigers defeated the Gamecocks the last time the two rivals met in Columbia in 2023 and capped their season with a win over Kentucky in the Gator Bowl.
"Clemson is 18-12 vs. the SEC since the start of the 2012 season, but the Tigers have lost seven of their past 10 games to SEC opponents, beginning with a 42-25 loss to LSU in the 2019 national championship game." --Chris Low, ESPN
Easiest Power Four schedule belongs to ACC team, ESPN believes
According to Low, the Power Four team with the easiest path to a bowl game in 2025 resides in the ACC: Wake Forest. A big reason why? The Deacs won't have Clemson on their schedule for the first time since before the ACC was even founded in 1953. Clemson and Wake Forest were two of the ACC's charter members, along with Duke, North Carolina, NC State, South Carolina and Maryland.
"The Deacons avoid Clemson, Miami and Louisville in the ACC. Their first four games are at home along with two of their last three games. A game at No. 24 Ole Miss was replaced by a trip to Oregon State, meaning there are no Power 4 nonconference foes on the Deacons' schedule. Their only back-to-back conference games on the road are against Florida State and Virginia on Nov. 1 and Nov. 8, and those teams finished a combined 7-17 last season." --Chris Low, ESPN
Clemson football schedule 2025
Clemson's season opener against LSU on Aug. 30 is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff. The game will be televised on ABC. Here's a look at the Tigers' full 2025 schedule, with any announced start times.
All times Eastern.
Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions.