Story by
Five hard-to-believe Clemson football stats from Dabo Swinney's 1-3 start
- Story by
- Five hard-to-believe Clemson football stats from Dabo Swinney's 1-3 start
CLEMSON — Clemson football is off to its worst start under coach Dabo Swinney , but there are more stats to showcase how poorly the Tigers have been performing.
Clemson (1-3, 0-2 ACC) is unranked and receiving no votes in the coaches poll. The Tigers' hopes to make the playoffs are dashed after losing three of their first four games, including two conference matchups.
Advertisement
The Tigers enter an open date in Week 5 looking to recharge physically and emotionally to try to salvage their season with eight games remaining. Here are five more shocking stats from Clemson 's worst start in 21 years.
Clemson has lost four straight home games against power four opponents
Clemson's "Death Valley" at Memorial Stadium used to be a house of horrors for opposing teams. The Tigers entered the season 70-5 at Death Valley in the College Football Playoff era, the second-best in the country in that span, and had a 31-2 record in their last 33 non-conference home games.
However, Clemson is 1-2 at home this season, including a primetime loss to LSU and an upset defeat to Syracuse. The Tigers trailed 16-3 to Troy , a Group of Five program, at halftime, too, before scoring 24 unanswered points.
Advertisement
Dating back to last season, Clemson suffered home losses to unranked Louisville and in-state rival South Carolina . The Tigers are 3-6 in their last nine games against power four opponents.
Clemson football is averaging its fewest points in 27 years
Clemson is averaging 19.8 points (114th nationally, 16th out of 17 ACC teams). The last time the Tigers struggled to score points like this was in 1998 when they averaged 19.8 under coach Tommy West.
The Tigers finished 3-8 in 1998, which was West's final season as Clemson's coach after five years.
MORE: Is Dabo Swinney on the hot seat? No, but it's been an uncomfortable four weeks at Clemson
Advertisement
This year's Clemson team was expected to match or exceed its scoring output from 2024 after averaging 34.7 points (18th in FBS). The Tigers retained quarterback Cade Klubnik , its end-of-season starting wide receivers, four offensive line starters and third-year offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, but the unit has struggled.
Georgia Tech , Syracuse beat Clemson for the first time this decade
Clemson was the gold standard in the ACC, winning eight of the last 10 conference titles including six straight from 2015-20. The Tigers dominated ACC foes to help achieve these feats, but they have faced trouble recently.
Clemson's nine-game win streak against Georgia Tech was snapped after the Yellow Jackets beat the Tigers 24-21 in Week 3. It was Georgia Tech's first win vs. Clemson since 2014, which was the Tigers' sixth-longest active win streak against an opponent.
Advertisement
Syracuse also snapped its six-game losing streak against Clemson in Week 4. It was the Orange's first win since 2017 and first victory against the Tigers on the road.
Clemson only lost three ACC games from 2015-20 but has fallen to nine conference opponents from 2021-25.
Clemson hasn't beaten a ranked SEC opponent since 2019
Clemson failed to defeat LSU, a ranked SEC opponent, to start the season, causing the Tigers to fall to 3-8 in their past 11 games against SEC teams. Clemson's last win against an SEC team came against Kentucky in the 2023 Gator Bowl.
The Tigers last win against a ranked SEC opponent was vs Texas A&M in 2019. This was also the last season in which Clemson won a playoff game.
Advertisement
Under Swinney, the Tigers have a 27-19 record against the three other power four conferences. However, Clemson is 3-1 against the Big Ten and Big 12, respectively, but the Tigers are 21-17 vs the SEC.
MORE: Dabo Swinney says Clemson's 1-3 start unexpected, but 'I don't think it caught God by surprise'
Cade Klubnik is off to his worst start of his Clemson career
Clemson dreamed big in 2025 because of Klubnik's return. He completed 63.4% of his throws for 3,639 yards, 36 touchdowns and six interceptions over 14 games in 2024.
Yet, he is having his worst statistical season, completing 60.1% of his passes for 996 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions.
Advertisement
In 2023, his first year as a starter, Klubnik completed 66.2% of his throws for 976 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions over his first four games. Similarly, he completed 66.4% of his passes for 984 yards, 12 touchdowns and two interceptions in his first four games in 2024.
Klubnik has also thrown a touchdown to only two players this season: wide receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. and running back Adam Randall . Last season, he threw a touchdown pass to nine different players.
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football: Five shocking stats from Dabo Swinney's 1-3 start
