Five takeaways from Clemson getting embarrassed by Syracuse, throwing the 2025 season away

Clemson football’s 2025 season will go without a playoff appearance with Syracuse storming into Death Valley and pulling off a 34-21 win on Saturday.

Dabo Swinney had said the Tigers were just a play or two from being undefeated, but the Orange never allowed Clemson a chance. Steve Angeli threw for two touchdowns and kept Syracuse moving, while Cade Klubnik had career highs in completions and attempts, tossing three touchdowns but also one interception. Adam Randall was a standout, rushing for 130 yards, catching a touchdown, and making plays on special teams, but even his performance couldn’t swing the outcome.

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The Tigers fell behind early, giving up a touchdown on the opening drive and then losing a short field to Syracuse after an onside kick. For the fourth straight week, Clemson allowed its opponent to score first, and a 95-minute lightning delay in the second half did nothing to slow the Orange. With a 1-3 overall record and 0-2 in the ACC, Clemson is off to its worst start in more than a decade, and three straight losses at home to Power 4 teams have erased any sense of Death Valley advantage.

There were some bright spots, but not enough for this Clemson team to really compete. Now Clemson heads into its first bye week, hoping to regroup before visiting North Carolina on October 4. Before that, here are five takeaways from Clemson’s miserable loss to Syracuse.

Clemson is looking like 2024 Florida State

There’s a lot of football left to be played, and it would truly be the worst scenario, but man, does this team look like 2024 Florida State. A ton of hype and a bad football team. Talent is there for the Tigers, but overall, they’re a real bad football team.

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Starting 1-3 for the first time in 21 years, Clemson looks like a team that might not qualify for a bowl game, and it’s only the end of Week 4. What an absurd, unpredictably ridiculous start to a season.

Clemson got outcoached and outplayed once again

I suppose this is just another way of me reiterating that this Clemson team hasn’t been good, but the Tigers were outplayed in nearly every facet of the game and severely outcoached. It was another week of poor discipline, poor tackling, poor play-calling, and, from top to bottom, just bad results. When interviewed at the end of the third quarter, Swinney sounded like he had already given up.

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Even watching the Tigers’ one win of the season against Troy, they still looked like they were outplayed and outcoached by a far less capable team. Clemson’s coaching staff makes a lot of money to produce like they have in 2025.

It’s time to take play-calling duties away from Garrett Riley

I don’t even know where you turn with the play-calling, but I do know Garrett Riley can’t be the guy doing it anymore. He’s not a meteorologist; you can’t consistently be this poor at such an important part of the game and keep doing it.

From hype of being arguably college football’s top offense to this, from what I’ve seen, Riley is the focal point of the Tigers’ offensive struggles. Yes, there are a lot of issues, and the play of Cade Klubnik has played a role in the issues, along with wide receivers separation issues, but this play-calling from Riley has been unimaginably poor, and the other issues stem from Riley’s downfalls.

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Other than two, maybe three drives a game if you’re lucky… the play calling is predictable, boring, and uninspired. It’s time for a change.

Adam Randall has been a standout, even with the crucial turnover

We’d be reflecting on Randall’s game a lot more positively if it weren’t for his crucial fumble late in the third quarter, but he still performed well. He took 16 carries for 130 yards and was active as a receiver with 7 catches for 44 yards and a touchdown. He was one of the few bright spots.

Other bright spots included wide receiver Bryant Wesco, who recorded 79 yards and two touchdowns, and transfer defensive end Will Heldt, who remains the Tigers’ best defender in 2025.

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Clemson’s “superstars” have been nonexistent

Clemson’s superstars haven’t looked like superstars in 2025. If we’re being honest, they haven’t looked like stars.If you looked at Cade Klubnik’s stats, they don’t tell the story of his game.

The 37-60, 363 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception look a lot better on paper than he was. Klubnik missed a lot of big throws and failed to show up when it mattered most. Right tackle Blake Miller did him no favors, having another very difficult game.

On defense, projected early first round picks T.J. Parker and Peter Woods have been non-existent. Their impact has been minimal, at best, and they’ve shown no signs of turning it around.

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What happened to this Clemson team?

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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Takeaways from Clemson’s brutal loss to Syracuse in Death Valley