Why Josh Pate Calls Upcoming Clemson Season 'Last Stand Moment'

Clemson football has a make-or-break season upcoming in 2026, and the national media have picked up on it, including its big personalities.

One of those is On3’s Josh Pate, who spoke about his perspective regarding the mood of the Tigers’ fanbase as the team enters the summer. After a 2025 season that was filled with national championship expectations, which Pate also spoke about throughout last summer, the vibe could be a little bit lower than it was a year ago.

Now, the fan base is in a situation that the analyst sees as “really interesting.”

“The mood at Clemson right now, I think, is sort of a last stand mood,” he said on his podcast, Josh Pate’s College Football Show. “No one wants it to be that way. If you’re a Clemson fan, you just want to pull the nose up. You want to be back to the way it used to be.”

Pate said that the retention from the year before, as well as the coaching, filled the season with the phrase, “so we thought.” That was especially seen on offense, mentioning previous offensive coordinator Garrett Riley and the weapons that he had for his offense.

However, Pate’s been around the college football landscape for long enough to know that sometimes, those teams that are expected to be College Football Playoff teams could bloom late. Clemson has the potential to do so, especially with a new offensive coordinator and 10 new transfers on the team.

“There are times when you have high expectations for a team, and they don’t fulfill on them, and then, by default, doubt them the next year, and then that’s the year they pop a surprise on you,” Pate said. “That could happen.”

The schedule starts in rough fashion, with the Tigers having to go to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to play the second leg of the home-and-home against LSU on Sept. 5. That will be the first game under head coach Lane Kiffin, featuring his plethora of top recruits and transfers.

Clemson is a double-digit underdog in that game, and if things get ugly to begin the season, Pate expects the same things to be said from last season regarding the future of the program.

“If it starts off poorly, I think you’ll just hear more of the same drum beat,” he said. ‘I think the fanbase mood, there is kind of ‘It’s a last stand moment there, and that’s okay.’”

The analyst doesn’t look at it in a bad manner, but rather looks back in the world of NIL and revenue share and gives credit to head coach Dabo Swinney for the run that he had in the 2010s.

He even goes as far as calling him one of the best coaches of this century.

“‘We got multiple conference titles, multiple national titles out of this,” Pate said. “‘If this is it, then it was the most iconic run in the history of our program and one of the most iconic runs in the history of college football.’”

Swinney has the opportunity to change that, with a schedule that’s filled with top-tier opponents. If he and the Tigers can flip the script, those perspectives could change going forward.