Tech’s time: No. 12 Clemson football upset by Yellow Jackets in ACC opener
About that national championship talk ...
Clemson football’s 2025 season has gone from bad to worse — and borderline disastrous — after a 24-21 loss at Georgia Tech on Saturday.
The Tigers and quarterback Cade Klubnik trailed Georgia Tech 13-0 in their ACC and road opener before battling back to tie the game 21-21 with 3:26 remaining.
But Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King got his team into field-goal range in the final minutes, and Tech kicker Aidan Birr hit a career-long 55-yard field goal at the buzzer to score an iconic upset win at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Georgia Tech fans rushed the field after their victory, which snapped a nine-game losing streak to Clemson for the program and moved Georgia Tech to 3-0 this season.
With the loss, Clemson (which was the preseason No. 4 team) dropped to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the ACC. The Tigers no longer control their own destiny in the ACC championship game race and have zero margin for error moving forward.
In other words, the Tigers would need to win out their ACC schedule and get some help to make their way into the league title game in Charlotte and have a chance at the conference’s automatic bid into the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Per ESPN’s analytics, Clemson’s chances of to make the CFP dropped to 5.4% after Saturday’s loss — a stunning number to read three weeks into the season.
But “that’s where we are,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said postgame.
After losses to LSU and Georgia Tech, Swinney emphasized there’s “a lot of good things” on tape for Clemson going forward. But it’s a results business, and the results say Clemson, a preseason national title pick, is 1-2.
“I know there’ll be a lot of criticism, lot of negativity, all that stuff that all comes with it,” Swinney said. “It’s important that our team and everybody stays away from all that stuff and just stays together. None of that stuff is going to help. We’ve just gotta go try to find a way to win a game (next) week.”
Game recap
Georgia Tech and quarterback King got out to a 13-0 lead by the 7:46 mark of the second quarter after a rushing touchdown from Jamal Haynes and two field goals from Birr (who was 3 for 3 on the day and hit from 40, 42 and 55 yards).
And Clemson didn’t do itself any favors — on its best offensive drive of the first quarter, the offense stalled and Swinney (after a timeout) opted to kick a 52-yard field goal on 4th and 3 from Georgia Tech’s 35-yard line. Nolan Hauser missed.
Klubnik also fumbled on Clemson’s first offensive drive of the game.
Down 13-0 with everything going against them, the Tigers gutted out a 16-play, 75-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes and included a 30-yard run from running back Adam Randall on 3rd and 22 — essentially a pre-punt surrender play.
Randall’s big run got Clemson past midfield, and Klubnik punched in a 1-yard rushing TD from under center on fourth and goal with 49 seconds remaining.
That touchdown, after Clemson was stuffed at the 1-yard line on back-to-back plays, was massive for a Tigers team in desperate need of points before halftime.
After trailing 13-7 at the break, Clemson marched down the field and into the red zone at the start of the third quarter — only for Klubnik to get picked off at the 7-yard line after staring down a receiver on a slant route. Georgia Tech returned the interception 45 yards and past midfield.
But Clemson’s “bend-don’t-break” defense came through and forced a punt. This time the offense made good on its opportunity, and receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. took a short pass from Klubnik 73 yards down the sideline.
Wesco’s touchdown gave Clemson its first lead of the game, 14-13.
The game’s next score didn’t come until early in the fourth quarter, when King scored a 1-yard rushing touchdown on a QB power against a worn-down Clemson defense and Georgia Tech added a two-point conversion on a trick play (21-14).
At that point, the Tigers’ defense had been on the field for a whopping 12:57 of the second half, compared to just 6:16 for a Clemson offense that had one long score (Wesco’s TD) and not much else production-wise in the second half.
Clemson tied the game 21-21 with 3:26 remaining on a short Randall rushing touchdown. Klubnik was clutch throughout that drive and had two third-down conversions as a rusher as well as a TD pass overturned before Randall’s score.
But King cooly executed a 10-play, 35-yard drive that put Tech into deep field-goal range. And after King was stopped short of the first down marker with about 20 seconds, Birr sprinted onto the field and nailed the game-winner from 55 yards.
Final stats from Clemson-Georgia Tech
Clemson outgained Georgia Tech 381 yards to 358 but lost the turnover margin 2-0. Its defense (which was on the field for 32:05 of the game) allowed Georgia Tech to go 8 for 15 on third downs and 5 for 9 (56%) on third downs in the second half.
King was a workhorse, going 20 for 28 for 211 yards and adding 101 rushing yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. He had 53 plays of total offense and accounted for 312 of Georgia Tech’s 358 total yards (87%).
Clemson’s offense had a season-high 21 points but failed to deliver in key moments, especially after defensive stops in the second half. Georgia Tech’s last two drives of the game were a 13-play, 90-yard drive that tied the game and a well executed 38-yard drive that set up the game-winning field goal.
“Today, when we needed a stop, we couldn’t get it,” Swinney said of a defense in its first year being coordinated by former Indiana coach and Penn State DC Tom Allen.
Klubnik was 15 for 27 for 206 yards, one touchdown and one interception and had 62 rushing yards, while Wesco had a big game (seven catches for 126 yards and a touchdown) and Randall had 100 all-purpose yards and a TD.
But Clemson turned the ball over twice, leading to three Georgia Tech points, and missed a field goal. Both of those errors could’ve been the difference.
Wesco also had a key drop on a third-and-4 around midfield with Clemson up 14-13 and driving late in the third quarter. Wesco took accountability for his drop.
“We’re one, two plays away from being 3-0,” he said. “We’ve just gotta finish.”
The Tigers are back home facing Syracuse next week at Memorial Stadium. But they’re a long way from their preseason standing as one of the country’s top teams, and Swinney said that’s going to lead to some “soul-searching” for everyone.
“There’s no quitters in that locker room,” Swinney said.
Next Clemson game
Who: No. 12 Clemson (1-2, 0-1 ACC) vs. Syracuse (2-1)
When: noon, Saturday, Sept. 20
Where: Memorial Stadium in Clemson
TV: ESPN or ABC
This story was originally published September 13, 2025 at 3:26 PM.
