CLEMSON – When the Associated Press released its preseason Top 25 poll earlier this week, Clemson writers ranked it 14th.

Why is this a big deal?

This is the first time since 2015 that the Tigers have started a season outside the top 10 of the AP poll.

“I don’t pay attention to that kind of thing, I really don’t,” said Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney.

Or maybe not?

“The last time we weren’t at the top was in 2015 when we were 12.^th“We made it to the national championship and at that point no one had written anything about those predictions,” Swinney said.

Swinney was right. Clemson began the 2015 season ranked 12th and then won its first 14 games en route to its second College Football Playoff National Championship Game against Alabama.

The Tigers lost the game 45-40, but it laid the foundation for one of the greatest victories in college football history.

Can Clemson repeat history this year?

“In 2011, we finished third or fourth in our league and we won the league. It’s not about what people say, what people predict or what people write. It’s about what we do,” Swinney said. “That kind of thing never matters.”

“I’m grateful that people see us as a good team. There’s no shame in being in the top 15. I’d rather be there than not be there. At least people see your program in a good light.”

Since 2016, Clemson has never started the season lower than 9th, and that was last season. From 2016 to 2023, the Tigers have been in the preseason top 5 every year.

“None of that matters. You can look at the preseason top 25 every year and usually five, six, seven of them aren’t even ranked at the end of the season,” Swinney said. “But nobody comes back and takes responsibility for their grand predictions or forecasts they made before the season.”

Clemson finished 20th in last year’s AP final poll. It was the Tigers’ lowest ranking since their 2014 final poll ranking of 15th.

The Tigers have finished ranked in the final AP poll every year since 2011.