New Clemson Revelation Puts 17 ACC Teams on Alert as Dabo Swinney Gets Rescued by Locker Room

If you ask who the ACC leader is, hearing Clemson’s echo shouldn’t be surprising. Dabo Swinney’s Tigers have been dominating this 18-team conference, winning six of the last eight ACC championship titles. They never fell out of relevance, bringing home two of the past three title victories. And it looks like 2025 is going to be no different. Except that it could even get better. 

Clemson is coming off an ACC title with a gritty 34-31 win against SMU. Maybe they fell to Texas in the CFP game. But don’t let that 38-24 scoreline fool you. Because right now, Josh Pate just put every ACC team on blast by crowning Dabo Swinney’s squad the clear favorite for 2025.

In a new episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show on April 22, the national analyst didn’t hesitate to hype the Tigers. He put them on top of the list of the teams with the best odds to win the 2025 ACC Championship at +165. “Everybody including me, thinks that Clemson is the clear favorite right now to win the ACC,” he said. “You got the returning quarterback, the returning offensive coordinator, really good defense, everything’s been geared towards this year.” And he’s not wrong. 

Aug 31, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney shown walking into the stadium prior to the game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

This isn’t just another season for Clemson. Dabo Swinney is back with a loaded CFP team from last year. ESPN’s Bill Connelly made it clear that no FBS team is returning more production from 2024 than the Tigers. QB Cade Klubnik is back for his third year after throwing for 3,639 yards and 36 TDs last season. He is even in the Heisman conversation, protected by four returning linemen. Garrett Riley is back as the Tigers’ OC. And the defensive side is no less favorable. 

The defense is returning talents like DE TJ Parker and tackle Peter Woods. It also got a serious coaching upgrade with the arrival of ex-Indiana HC and former Penn State DC Tom Allen. Even FanDuel’s got Clemson at +240 to win the ACC in their way-too-early conference title odds. And with a relatively favorable schedule—season opener against LSU at Death Valley, SMU, and Louisville, Miami being viewed as potentially the toughest battle—Dabo Swinney could be recreating past achievements beyond just the ACC title. But here’s where it gets tricky, and it has to do with his transfer portal philosophy. 

Dabo Swinney’s portal strategy gets a nod

Dabo Swinney is different from other HCs when it comes to the transfer portal. And that difference dragged him through the mud by many. But the locker room? They’ve got his back loud and clear. In an appearance on The Pivot Podcast with Ryan Clark, Parker and Woods doubled down on their HC’s culture-first strategy.

“I think, personally, it builds the team,” Parker said. “Like obviously, everybody that is on the team, he recruited heavy, so that relationship is already there. Truthfully, we’ve got the talent to go all the way with it, without using the transfer portal. Because we really didn’t need anything.” But don’t get it twisted. 

This offseason, Dabo Swinney took a dip into the portal because of necessity. They added Purdue DE Will Heldt, Southeast Missouri State wideout Tristan Smith, and Alabama edge rusher Jeremiah Alexander. Call it selective adjustments. Josh Pate even jokes that if Dabo Swinney runs the table and wins a natty with this group, he should “just drop the mic and go work in TV.”

He added, “If I weave my way through the portal era and everyone hating on me for my policy, and then I bend a little bit on it but I win with a team that’s largely made up of guys we recruited, we developed… And if they go and win the championship… It would be the biggest elbow off the top rope that anyone’s ever given this sport.” And he might be right.

Dabo Swinney has already won two national titles (2016, 2018) with the Tigers. If he pulls this off in the portal era with the players he recruited and developed, it’s going to be more than just a big win. It’ll be a statement of his coaching greatness. A reminder that culture still matters. 

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