No. 4 Miami absolutely rocked Clemson with a dominant 41-13 win, making it crystal clear who’s running the ACC now. This wasn’t just another game, man. This was a full-on referendum on two wildly different ways to build a program in 2026, and the result couldn’t be starker. The gap between these two teams is officially a chasm, and everyone in college football just got a real look at the shifting power dynamics.
Dabo’s Old School Approach Just Got Exposed
Listen, we all remember Clemson under Dabo Swinney. They were the kings, no doubt. Eight conference titles in ten years from 2015-24, two national championships. They entered every season with stacked rosters, and it felt like nobody in the ACC could touch them. But college football changes fast, especially in this NIL and transfer portal era. Swinney’s approach, which has been about resisting that changing landscape, looks completely out of step with what’s needed to compete at the very top right now. Miami has straight-up supplanted them as the ACC’s best team, and this 41-13 beatdown screams it.
Miami Went All-In, And It’s Paying Off Big Time
On the flip side, you’ve got Mario Cristobal and Miami, and they’ve embraced the new era head-on. Cristobal was already known as one of the best recruiters in the country, but with NIL and the transfer portal, and a deep-pocketed donor base, he’s basically been supercharged. Miami has been one of the most aggressive teams in the transfer portal and NIL space, period. They are combining elite recruiting with top-tier transfer portal classes to just load up on talent. Since Cristobal took over in December 2021, Miami has landed a top-10 recruiting class in three of his five years (15th in 2022 and 2025) AND a top-10 transfer portal class in each of the last four years (12th in 2022), according to 247Sports. They’ve been especially aggressive at quarterback, spending big to land a top transfer QB for three years running with Cam Ward, Carson Beck, and Darian Mensah. And dude, it’s working! Ward became a No. 1 overall pick, Beck led them to a national title game last year, and Mensah is a Heisman frontrunner right now.
Miami still has a long way to go to match Clemson’s past conference dominance, and they haven’t even reached an ACC Championship Game yet. But after making the national title game last year, and now absolutely steamrolling Clemson, they’ve proven themselves as one of the nation’s elite programs. Darian Mensah is electric, this team is loaded, and the rest of the conference better be paying attention to how they’re doing it.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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