As EA Sports prepares to release College Football 25 next month, the Clemson Tigers were ranked in the top 10 of the game's overall power rankings, released earlier this week.
Coming into this game, the Tigers are ranked 6th with an overall rating of 90.
In previous releases of the game, EA ranked the Clemson offense 10th and the Clemson defense 5th.
Only five teams have a higher overall rating than Clemson: Georgia (95 OVR), Ohio State (93), Oregon (93), Alabama (92) and Texas (92).
Clemson opens the season on Aug. 31 against Georgia in Atlanta.
These ratings are subject to change as EA makes updates during the season, but EA Sports said its development team examined hundreds of thousands of data points and analyzed all 134 FBS teams, including thousands of players, to arrive at its preseason ratings.
The team also reviewed game footage and statistics in consultation with experts from Pro Football Focus.
The Tigers are coming off a 9-4 season in 2023 and won a bowl game but missed out on an ACC Championship Game appearance for the second time in the past three years, but the Tigers have appeared in the ACC title game in seven of the past nine seasons and won all of them.
Offensively, the Tigers have a strong lineup of players returning from last season, including quarterback Cade Klubnick, wide receivers Tyler Brown and Troy Stellato and running back Phil Muffa.
Defensively, Clemson will rely on linebacker Barrett Carter and strong safeties RJ Mickens and Khalil Barnes.
Other ACC teams in the composite power rankings include No. 7 Notre Dame (90), No. 12 Florida State (88), No. 13 Miami (88), No. 20 Virginia Tech (87) and No. 21 North Carolina State (87).
Of those teams, Clemson will host North Carolina State on September 21, travel to Florida State on October 5 and Virginia Tech on November 9.
EA Sports Preseason Overall Power Rankings Top 25
- Georgia – 95 OVR
2. Ohio State – 93 OVR
3. Oregon – 93 OVR
4. Alabama – 92 OVR
5. Texas – 92 OVR
6. Clemson – 90 OVR
7. Notre Dame – 90 OVR
8. LSU – 90 OVR
9. Penn State – 88 OVR
10. Utah – 88 OVR
11. Michigan – 88 OVR
12. Florida State – 88 OVR
13. Miami – 88 OVR
14. Texas A&M – 88 OVR
15. Ole Miss – 88 OVR
16. Colorado – 87 OVR
17. Oklahoma – 87 OVR
18. Wisconsin – 87 OVR
19. USC – 87 OVR
20. Virginia Tech – 87 OVR
21. NC State – 87 OVR
22. Kansas – 87 OVR
23. Arizona – 87 OVR
24. Oklahoma State – 87 OVR
25. Iowa – 87 OVR
