Here's how Clemson football finished in final AP Top 25 rankings
Clemson football finished outside the top 10 in the AP Top 25 poll for the second straight season.
The Tigers were slotted at No. 13 in the final rankings released after Monday night's national championship win by Georgia against TCU. Last year, Clemson finished at No. 14.
Clemson went 11-3 this season, 8-0 in the ACC and won a sixth conference championship in seven years. The Tigers' lowest finish in the College Football Playoff era was No. 15 in 2014. They won national titles in 2016 and 2018, finished runner-up in 2015 and 2019. They were third in the 2020 season and fourth in 2017, making the four-team playoffs both times.
Clemson's losses this season came to No. 6 Tennessee (31-14 in the Orange Bowl), No. 18 Notre Dame (35-14) and No. 23 South Carolina (31-30). The Tigers' only win over a team that finished in the Top 25 was at No. 11 Florida State.
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Clemson started 8-0, surviving a double-overtime win at Wake Forest. The Tigers' first loss was Nov. 5 at Notre Dame, and they stumbled again in the regular-season finale Nov. 26 at home against South Carolina. They made a quarterback switch in the ACC title game, replacing two-year starter DJ Uiagalelei with freshman Cade Klubnik. Uiagalelei has since transferred to Oregon State.
The final AP rankings: 1. Georgia, 2. TCU, 3. Michigan, 4. Ohio State, 5. Alabama, 6. Tennessee, 7. Penn State, 8. Washington, 9. Tulane, 10. Utah, 11. Florida State, 12. Southern Cal, 13. Clemson, 14. Kansas State, 15. Oregon, 16. LSU, 17. Oregon State, 18. Notre Dame, 19. Troy, 20. Mississippi State, 21. UCLA, 22. Pitt, 23. South Carolina, 24. Fresno State, 25. Texas.
Other ACC teams receiving votes were Duke (No. 26), North Carolina (32), NC State (33) and Louisville (35).
Todd Shanesy covers Clemson athletics for the USA TODAY Network.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Here's where Clemson football finished in final AP Top 25 rankings
