Clemson Tigers Fans Given Reason for Excitement About 2026 Season
· Yahoo Sports
The Clemson Tigers are hoping to turn things around in 2026. After a brutal campaign just one year ago, Dabo Swinney and company are focused on getting the program back on track.
Swinney remains very confident about the team's ability to get back to the top. Despite the disappointing seasons in recent years, Clemson is still one of the top football programs in the nation.
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Heading into the 2026 season, there are very few national analysts talking about the Tigers. Swinney's team has flown under the radar for the first time in awhile. It's a big change from this time last year when Clemson was viewed as a top-tier National Championship contender.
With that being said, there are some who have provided poor outlooks for the Tigers. Paul Finebaum has been very vocal about his criticism of Swinney specifically.
That being said, one analyst has spoken out and given reason for optimism.
ACC Network's Eric Mac Lain shared his thoughts about the Clemson football program. He admits that things haven't gone favorably for the Tigers, but also pushed back at the idea that the program has been bad.
“I don’t think they’re a bad program on the decline,” Mac Lain said. “What they’ve been able to do has been tremendous. I mean, you don’t win two national championships playing the game four or five times and not know how to adjust, not know how to get better.”
He continued on, noting that quite a few teams across the country would love to be in the situation that Clemson finds itself in.
“Now, has that been a little bit of a curve, and have things not gone favorably for them? Absolutely,” he said. “But, I look at their last four years or five years, wherever you want to say the decline started, and there’s probably 90% of the country that would kill to have those five years on their plate right now.”
For those who don't know, Mac Lain is a former offensive lineman from the Tigers. He still has trust in his former head coach to figure things out.
“This guy is the best at what he does, very talented team, just had nine guys drafted, just couldn’t get it done for whatever reason,” he said. “So, what did you learn from last year? How do you make sure it never happens again?”
Hopefully, this take ends up being correct. Clemson hasn't been a serious championship contender in a handful of years. Fans want to get back to that level of play.
Perhaps this season will be the year the Tigers and Swinney begin turning things around.