ESPN's Joe Fortenbaugh picks Clemson over 9.5 wins in 2025

Clemson has won double-digit games in 13 of the past 14 seasons. In the one it didn’t, it won nine. ESPN’s Joe Fortenbaugh now fully expects the Tigers to make that 14 of 15 this fall, with a win total for the Tigers that he thinks should be higher than it is.

Ahead of the college football season’s start tomorrow, ‘Get Up’ again previewed some of the top teams in the country coming in. That included Clemson, whom Fortenbaugh, a sports betting analyst, took to go over on 9.5 wins, in thinking the number should be a game better at 10.5, because of all that they have on their roster in new additions and returners, like QB Cade Klubnik.

“More,” said Fortenbaugh of the win total at 9.5, which is per their odds ESPN BET. “I’m surprised this hasn’t gone to 10.5. They’re going to be a favorite in all twelve games this year. They’re going to be a double-digit favorite in nine of those twelve games.

“Dabo (Swinney) finally hit the portal and the result is that he’s got the most experienced team in the nation. So, we love the schedule, we love the experience. Got to love the quarterback play. Cade Klubnik? Thirty-six touchdowns to six interceptions last year. He’s got 37 career games under his belt.”

BetMGM also has Clemson’s win total set at 9.5, with the over being heavily favored at (-250). They’re also high on the Tigers as a contender as they have them with the heavy odds to win the ACC at (-110) and in a tie for the fourth-best odds at (+900) to win the College Football Playoff, after being (-200) to make the CFP and with the fifth-best odds to be the No. 1 overall seed in the CFP at (+750).

Having them as the No. 1 team for him in the preseason, as well as their conference’s champion and the national runner-up for this season, Greg McElroy agreed with Fortenbaugh. He sees Clemson having few, if any, questions based on the roster as a whole, quarterback play, and schedule that they’ll be facing, specifically over their two-month stretch of eight conference games in the ACC.

“They have the fewest question marks,” McElroy said. “Joe already referenced, a moment ago, that they have so much returning production. And, we’re projecting a bit. A lot of their best players last year were true freshmen in some cases, true sophomores in some others. Now that group has played multiple years together. Cade Klubnik is going into year three as a starting quarterback.

“And, the ACC schedule that Joe just referenced? It’s more gettable than the schedule that you’ll see in the SEC and in the Big Ten. That’s why, while Penn State might have as talented a roster as Clemson does, they’re likelihood of getting to the postseason at 12-1 or 11-2 is not as high as that of Clemson. So, I think, Clemson, when we project to the end of the year, assuming they stay healthy, will have the best record, which could lead to the best seed – which would lead them to be the number one overall team in college football this season.”

Clemson has one of the more obvious paths, if not the most obvious path, to contention this fall. That has Fortenbaugh in on them, especially with a win total that, to him, Vegas set too low for the Tigers to begin with.