Clemson has an intriguing schedule in 2025 and college football experts are taking notice.
The Tigers do play in arguably the weakest of the Power Four conferences as teams like Louisville, Florida State, SMU, and Miami are the biggest contenders but the non-conference slate is not exactly a walk in the park. Actually, it might be the toughest non-conference schedule in the country, especially if you look at a recent ranking of the top 10 out-of-conference games ahead of 2025.
Dabo Swinney welcomes a challenge, though.
The legendary head coach will field a top-five team to begin the 2025 season and it'll have to maneuver through conference play without a loss if it wants to earn a top-four seed and a coveted bye in the new College Football Playoff seeding format.
It'll likely have to go 2-0 against arguably the toughest opponents on its schedule.
Those opponents help create two of the three best non-conference games of the 2025 season, according to a recent On3 ranking.
Clemson vs. South Carolina is Andy Staples' second-best non-conference game of the season and the LSU vs. Clemson season opener at Memorial Stadium is surprisingly No. 3 on the list. I would have expected that to be the No. 2 or No. 1 non-conference game on the list, but Ohio State vs. Texas takes the top spot. I'd actually flip the No. 2 and No. 3 spots.
While South Carolina vs. Clemson is likely to be a movie and a classic with both teams vying for a College Football Playoff spot, LSU vs. Clemson is going to draw the attention of every college football fan.
Yet another reason to be excited about the 2025 season.