Clemson Seniors Take Charge in Louisville Win as Bowl Eligibility Nears

The 2025 college football season hasn’t been the year that the Clemson Tigers have wanted, but that hasn’t stopped the team from emphasizing finishing the season strong.

It’s come from the senior class, led by offensive players like quarterback Cade Klubnik and running back Adam Randall, to put matters into their own hands to lead the Tigers into a strong finish. After the 46-45 heartbreaking loss to Duke at home, the Tigers needed to win three of their last four games to make a bowl game.

For an implication like that, especially with a close-knit group with the highest retention rate from that season, that would mean the world to the senior class. Clemson has won its last two games, against Florida State and Louisville, respectively, and is now one win away in the last two games from making a postseason appearance.

“It’s just another opportunity to play with, like, you know, the guys that I’ve lived life with,” Klubnik said after the Louisville win. “You know, another opportunity to go play with, you know, Ryan [Linthicum] and Antonio [Williams] and Adam and Tristan [Leigh] and all these guys that, you know, it’s probably going to be my last time ever being teammates with them. A few weeks from now, we’re all going to be in different parts of the country and stuff, so it gives us, you know, an opportunity to go play and spend a few more weeks together.”

Randall stole the show in the win last Friday night, recording 105 rushing yards and two scores for the only two touchdowns of the game for Clemson, which would end up being enough. For the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, native, the emphasis on finishing strong will allow the team to gain momentum into next season.

Similar to the 2023 team, where the Tigers won the last five games after beginning the year 4-4, it could have the same effect if Clemson can do so.

“I mean, it’s just really big, you know, just for the program and, you know, setting guys up for next year,” Randall said. “Obviously, we didn’t get the start that we wanted, but I mean, at the end of the day, we’re committed to a season, and I feel like, you know, just everybody in the locker room has given 110% regardless of the situation that we’ve been in.”

Clemson is different from other schools in terms of culture. Players play for the Paw on the jersey and buy into the culture that head coach Swinney presents through his authentic emotion and recruiting strategies. That’s been the reason for the team continuing to unite in a time that is not normal for the Tigers.

“Coach Swinney said it, you know, the tougher it’s gotten, the stronger we, as a team, we’ve gotten,” Randall said, “so I just, you know, commend everybody in the locker room and, you know, just continuing to fight and fight for the name of their back and the University.”

For Klubnik, it’s more than playing to improve his draft stock with this team; it’s to have another opportunity to go out and play with some of his closest friends at the school. As Clemson heads home next weekend to host Furman, followed by the Palmetto Bowl against South Carolina in two weeks, the Tigers only need one win to make a bowl game for the 21st straight season.

Klubnik expressed the fight that his team showed against the Cardinals, helping lead to this scenario.

“That’s what we’re fighting for, and I think that’s really why this game meant so much to us,” the senior said. “We really got to earn that and go punch that ticket next.”

Clemson will kick off at 4:30 p.m. from Memorial Stadium. The game will be broadcast on the CW Network.