Why This ESPN Analyst Turned Optimistic About Clemson Football in 2026

There are some analysts that were critical of the Clemson Tigers over the years. ESPN’s Heather Dinich is one of those analysts.

However, despite disputes during Clemson’s ACC Championship season in 2024, which she believed the Tigers shouldn’t have made the College Football Playoff, among other viewpoints, Dinich is different about the program in 2026. She spoke about Clemson being left out of the AP Poll for the first time since the 2011 season on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday afternoon.

“They’ve got to play their way in,” Dinich said. “They’ve got to earn it, but I would be shocked, absolutely shocked, if Clemson is not better this year.”

Three other teams made the poll from the ACC over the Tigers: Miami, SMU and Louisville. Clemson was five votes away from having a number next to its name, but perhaps it gives it more motivation to prove voters wrong when it goes into LSU on Sept. 5 in Week 1.

The Tigers only play one of those teams: Miami. Dinich sees that matchup as a “big deal” to have that contest at Memorial Stadium. That high-stakes contest will conclude Clemson’s first part of the season before going into a bye week. Head coach Dabo Swinney and his team will surely be an underdog in that game as well.

However, the ESPN analyst likes the staff that Swinney has built around him to begin the 2026 season. There is a question, of course, that many other programs are looking at entering the year too.

“They have to, obviously, find a quarterback, like a lot of these other teams we’re talking about here, but I like the hire of Chad Morris at offensive coordinator, second year under Tom Allen at defensive coordinator,” Dinich said. “I think they’re on the upwards trajectory.”

She even goes as far as saying the Tigers will make the ACC Championship game this December, putting Clemson up against Miami for what would be a rematch of that Oct. 3 matchup.

However, there will be certain parts of Clemson’s troubles from 2025 that will need to be fixed. Run consistency and missed tackles will be critical to be cleaned up when entering the season with a game like LSU in Tiger Stadium.

Another one that Dinich points out is the poor secondary, which was filled with busted coverages and misses assignments.

“Dabo told me this offseason, he told me, ‘That was the worst secondary I have ever had as a head coach,’” she said “He owned it.”

An unranked Clemson team is rare for all of college football to see, but perhaps a blessing in disguise, being away from the national spotlight that is loaded with expectations. All it takes is an upset in under three weeks for that script to flip on Swinney’s program.

Just take it from one of his toughest critics.

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