How Clemson Fares in ESPN's Latest Bowl Projections

The Clemson Tigers enter Week 6 of the season at 1-3 with just one win over Troy and zero Power Four victories, and the latest bowl projections are reflecting their underwhelming performance.

ESPN college football analysts Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach released their latest predictions for the upcoming 2025 bowl games, and Clemson was included in both respective lists.

Bonagura’s model projects Clemson to play in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl against Mississippi State on Friday, Dec. 19, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. For comparison, Schalabach has UNLV vs. Pittsburgh in that same bowl game.

According to Schalabach’s model, the Tigers are projected to face Arizona in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, Dec. 31. Once again, to compare linear-level teams, Bonagura believes Duke will play Arizona in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.

This is obviously not where Dabo Swinney and company, nor Clemson fans, wish and expect of the Tigers, as they have made the College Football Playoff in seven of the last 10 years. However, the once-powerhouse has undeniably wavered from its mid to late 2010s dominance, only earning a bid to the playoff in one of the previous four seasons – last year marked Clemson’s first playoff appearance since 2020.

Clemson currently holds less than a 1% chance to make the College Football Playoff, per PlayoffStatus.com, and FanDuel lists the Tigers’ odds to win the ACC at +7500.

The Tigers are out of the playoff conversation, and barring a miracle and a great load of luck in the second half of the season, Clemson does not find itself in position to compete for an ACC title.

However, although contending for a national championship may be out of the picture, the Tigers still have time to turn things around and finish strong. It certainly hasn’t been a pretty product on the field thus far, as it has struggled heavily on both sides of the football through four games, but Clemson faces a manageable schedule going forward that could yield a solid number of wins.

The Tigers take a two-game road stint to North Carolina and Boston College the next couple of weeks before returning home to host SMU, Duke, and No. 18 Florida State. Clemson then ends the season at Louisville, at home against Furman, and a trip to Columbia, S.C., to take on South Carolina in Williams-Brice.

No game seems like an easy task considering the level to which the Tigers have performed this season, but if senior quarterback Cade Klubnik can return to his 2024 form and Tom Allen’s defense can eventually reach the expectations many people had for it all throughout the offseason, Clemson has a shot to finish the year off on the right foot and potentially even make a New Year’s Six bowl appearance.