Clemson home game projected as Top 10 most intimidating environment in 2025

May 3, 2025

Clemson looks to get a first win over a ranked SEC team since 2019.

Brandon Rink– Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer
– 3 hours ago

The stakes will be high and the crowd charged right out of the gate in Death Valley — a Top 10 environment for the entire season.

That’s according to a 247Sports ranking, which assessed the August 30 opener at No. 7 overall for the season.

“Can Brian Kelly break the hex on LSU and season openers? The Tigers’ last win during Week 1 came in 2019 with Joe Burrow at the helm. Since then, LSU has lost to Mississippi State, UCLA, Florida State twice and USC its first time out,” 247Sports analyst Brad Crawford writes. “The program hasn’t been back to the playoff during that stretch, either. To exorcise those demons, quarterback Garrett Nussmeier will have to be at his best against one of the nation’s toughest road environments.

“Clemson’s been nearly unbeatable at home under Dabo Swinney and the Tigers are the ACC preseason frontrunners. Clemson lost all three games it played against SEC competition [in 2024].”

The ACC Tigers are looking to regain form from an SEC sweep of Kentucky and South Carolina in the 2023 season, but since 2021, Clemson is 3-6 against SEC opponents, and with LSU expected to be a Top 15 preseason team, none of those of victories were over ranked opponents.

The last two Tiger home ranked wins came in the 2023 slate with November victories over North Carolina and Notre Dame in the midst of a five-game winning streak to close the season.

Penn State hosting Oregon on Sept. 27 topped the list, followed by Alabama going to Georgia on the same day.

Elsewhere at 247Sports, they went over the burning questions for each Top 25 team, where it centers on defense for Clemson:

Can Tom Allen lead the defense back to the promised land? With a more stout defense, Clemson could have made real noise in last year’s playoff. The offense will be as good or better in 2025, so the make-or-break factor for a huge year is how great of an impact Allen makes in his coordinator job on the other side of the ball.

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