Paul Finebaum Gives Honest Prediction About Clemson Football Record, LSU Matchup

The ESPN analyst, as usual, gave his unfiltered thoughts about what to expect from Clemson football in 2026.

ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum thinks that the Clemson Tigers will have a mediocre season compared to those of seasons past. | Ken Ruinard / staff, The Greenville News via Imagn Content Services, LLC

If there’s anybody who is consistently criticizing Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, it’s ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum. 

In the dead heat of the offseason, there’s nothing better to do than make predictions about every program that has high expectations going into the season. The Tigers are the same, looking to get back to the College Football Playoff, let alone making a run once in it, during the 2026-27 season.

When a caller asked on The Paul Finebaum Show about what he thought when it came to Clemson’s season, he agreed with the consensus about where the Tigers stand after their 7-6 season. 

A pretty mediocre season to Swinney’s standards. 

“I think he’ll have a winning season,” Finebaum said last week. “I think another 8-4 season for Dabo.”

It doesn’t come as a shocking surprise; Clemson has a difficult schedule that features competitive away trips and home contests in which it could slip up, mainly Virginia Tech and Miami. 

One of those competitive away trips is against LSU to begin the 2026 season on Sept. 5. The fanfare isn’t just from the second leg of the home-and-home between the two sets of Tigers, but the storylines behind it. 

Whether it’s the Lane Kiffin coaching debut, the transfer of defensive tackle Stephiylan Green playing his former team or the T.J. Dottery domino effect that affected Luke Ferrelli, a caller on Finebaum’s show went with a bold take. He said that “LSU is going to clean his clock”.

The analyst agreed. 

Another caller also spoke about who Clemson’s quarterback would end up being, asking Finebaum if he would be able to name the Tigers’ starting quarterback without using Google. 

He responded, “No.”

That will be fuel for expected starting quarterback Christopher Vizzina, who’s waited in the wings for three seasons before finally getting his chance to be the team’s starter after Cade Klubnik ran out of eligibility and headed to the NFL. He’s expected to compete with true freshman Tait Reynolds. 

With Swinney’s tendencies, though, he generally goes with experience in these situations. 

The Tigers seem to be written off, but it leaves them with much less to lose compared to their mascot counterpart to begin the 2026 season. Those are the Swinney teams that typically end up overachieving what they typically do. 

Not to mention they have their old offensive coordinator, Chad Morris, back with a full offseason under the belt of defensive coordinator Tom Allen. Clemson finally used the transfer portal to the extent that many other successful programs have done as well. 

Maybe Swinney gets these callers to eat their words. Only time will tell, but it’s an uphill battle for Clemson.