Clemson ranks in Top 10 combined among football, men's basketball seasons

Clemson's offense made some plays in Austin, but the Tigers couldn't get enough stops to make the CFP trip more memorable.

Brandon Rink - Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer - Sunday, April 13 2025

College Football News recently assembled a ranking of the top programs combined in football and men's basketball this past season, where Clemson ranked in the Top 10 for the 2024-25 sports season.

Clemson checked in at No. 8 overall.

"The hoops team flamed out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but finishing [tied for] second in the ACC regular season was fun. Winning the ACC title in football and going to the College Football Playoff - it battled in the loss to Texas - was even better," said CFN's Pete Fiutak.

Only Duke out-paced the Tigers within the ACC, at No. 6 overall, with an ACC regular season No. 1 finish, ACC Tournament title, and Final Four appearance in MBB, and a nine-win season in football.

Florida and its men's basketball national title season and eight-win football campaign topped the list, followed by Tennessee (Elite Eight in MBB; 10-win season and CFP appearance) and Ohio State (CFP champion; 17-15 in MBB).

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers added to the CFP repertoire by Miami stumbling to the finish and a 7-1 Clemson campaign in ACC regular-season play to make the ACC Championship Game, capping the bid with a walk-off 56-yard field goal from Nolan Hauser to beat a fellow CFP team in SMU. The Tigers went to Austin, Texas and a date with the 11-2 Longhorns, making it a one-score game with under 12 minutes left before Texas ultimately prevailed, 38-24.

As referenced above, a standout men's basketball season met an untimely end in Providence, Rhode Island, after a disastrous first-half performance in the two-point loss to 12-seed McNeese State.

Before that, Brad Brownell’s Tigers (27-7, 18-2 ACC) set program records for overall wins (27), regular-season wins (26) and ACC regular-season wins (18).

With another double-digit win season, CFN also placed Clemson in the football "blue blood" category with 12 other programs.

CFN Top 10 MBB and football programs in 2024-25

1. Florida
2. Tennessee
3. Ohio State
4. Oregon
5. Georgia
6. Duke
7. Michigan
8. Clemson
9. Ole Miss
10. BYU