Clemson football, Dabo Swinney plummet in AP Top 25 poll after Duke loss
Associated Press Top 25 voters saw Clemson football lose its season opener to unranked Duke by 21 points Monday and reacted accordingly in this week’s poll.
The Tigers, the preseason No. 9 team, fell 16 spots to No. 25 in the updated poll released Tuesday after a 28-7 loss to the Blue Devils in Durham.
Duke, meanwhile, showed up at No. 21 in Tuesday’s poll after its historic upset, marking the team’s first appearance in the AP Top 25 since September 2018.
Clemson, the reigning ACC champion, was ranked every week of the 2022 season and only ranked outside of the AP Top 10 twice. The Tigers were last unranked during an eight-week stretch from October 2021 to November 2021; before that, Clemson hadn’t been unranked since November 2014 (107 straight weeks).
But coach Dabo Swinney’s program is now on the verge of doing that twice in three seasons after a primetime loss in which quarterback Cade Klubnik looked like a work in progress, new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley’s unit failed to finish drives with touchdowns and the Tigers defense allowed three second-half touchdowns.
“I’ve been beat,” Swinney said postgame. “I’ve had my butt kicked many times in my career. But I can honestly say that’s one of the strangest games I’ve ever played.”
The Blue Devils scored their first win against Clemson since 2004 and their first win against an AP Top 10 team since 1989 as the Tigers — who made six straight College Football Playoffs and won two national championships from 2015-20 — looked far more like a middle-of-the-pack ACC team.
No. 4 Florida State, No. 17 UNC and No. 21 Duke all ranked ahead of Clemson in Tuesday’s poll. The Tigers host the Seminoles in Memorial Stadium on Sept. 24.
Next Clemson game
Who: Clemson (0-1, 0-1 ACC) vs. Charleston Southern (1-0)
When: 2:15 p.m. Saturday
Where: Memorial Stadium in Clemson
Watch: ACC Network
