Where Clemson and South Carolina stand in first Top 25 of football season
Last year, Clemson and South Carolina football both ranked as Top 15 teams in the preseason coaches poll. Expectations are a bit lower this time around.
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In the first 2026 coaches poll of the season, released Tuesday by USA Today Sports, Clemson is No. 23 and South Carolina is unranked.
USC did pop up in the “others receiving votes” category, though. South Carolina had 50 voting points, tied for fifth most among teams outside the Top 25. That places the Gamecocks and Shane Beamer at an unofficial tie for No. 30 with Arizona.
Clemson’s No. 23 ranking is the lowest for coach Dabo Swinney and the Tigers since 2011, when they were unranked in the coaches poll.
The top 5 teams in the poll are No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Notre Dame. Reigning national champion Indiana is No. 6.
The preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll comes out Aug. 17.
Tuesday’s coaches poll rankings reflect the uncertainty surrounding Clemson and USC in 2026 after both in-state programs posted disappointing seasons a year ago.
Swinney’s Tigers were widely viewed as a lock to win the ACC in 2025 and compete for a national title. But Clemson finished 7-6 (Swinney’s worst record since 2010) and lost nine players to the NFL Draft, including starting QB Cade Klubnik.
Big names like LaNorris Sellers, Dylan Stewart and Nyck Harbor are back for South Carolina, but there’s work to do in Beamer’s sixth season after USC went 4-8 (1-7 SEC) and missed a bowl game for the second time in three seasons.
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Swinney and Beamer both rose on CBS Sports’ annual preseason “hot seat rankings” in July, and Beamer is one of three coaches listed in the “Start improving now” category. That’s the second-warmest category behind “win or be fired.”
FanDuel currently has Clemson’s season-long win total over/under at 7.5 wins and South Carolina at 6.5 wins.
The Tigers were predicted to finish fourth in the 17-team ACC and USC was picked to finish 11th in the 16-team SEC in their respective conferences’ preseason polls.
This year’s coaches poll voting panel consists of 72 FBS head coaches (roughly half of the 138 FBS coaches). Swinney and Beamer are not listed as voters for 2026.
Listed by total voting points; first-place votes in parentheses
Louisville, 153; Florida, 147; TCU, 63; Illinois, 62; South Carolina, 50; Arizona, 50; Virginia, 40; Vanderbilt, 37; Auburn, 29; Georgia Tech, 26; Boise State, 24; Oklahoma State, 22; UNLV, 17; North Carolina State, 13; Florida State, 13; Virginia Tech, 12; Nebraska, 12; Memphis, 9; Arizona State, 8; James Madison, 6; Duke, 6; Pittsburgh, 4; New Mexico, 4; Western Michigan, 3; Navy, 3; San Diego State, 2; Kansas State, 1; Jacksonville State, 1; Hawai’i, 1; and California, 1
This story was originally published August 4, 2026 at 12:18 PM with the headline “Where Clemson and South Carolina stand in first Top 25 of football season.”
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