ESPN’s College GameDay experts make their picks for Clemson vs. No. 4 Miami

Clemson won’t find much confidence in its upset chances from ESPN’s College GameDay panel.

Every picker who weighed in on Saturday night’s matchup at Memorial Stadium chose No. 4 Miami, leaving the Tigers with a unanimous prediction to challenge in front of their home crowd.

Desmond Howard, Nick Saban, Pat McAfee and celebrity guest picker Caitlin Clark all selected the Hurricanes. While the picks were the same, Saban offered the strongest prediction about how the game would unfold.

“I’m all in on Miami,” Saban said. “I think they’re one of the most complete teams in the country so far this year, and I think they’re going to dominate Clemson.”

The Tigers enter the matchup with three consecutive wins and a chance to put their season-opening loss at LSU further behind them. Clemson is 3-1 overall and 2-0 in ACC play, while Miami arrives unbeaten at 4-0 with two conference victories of its own.

Howard pointed to Miami’s personnel as the difference, even with injuries affecting the Hurricanes.

“I think Miami just has too much talent,” Howard said.

McAfee’s reasoning centered on the offense Clemson will have to slow down. He highlighted Malachi Toney and quarterback Darian Mensah, noting that Mensah has thrown more touchdown passes than incompletions through the opening month.

Staff score predictions for Clemson’s massive Week 5 matchup against Miami

📸 Coley Cleary-USA TODAY Sports. https://t.co/djPNQd5PEBpic.twitter.com/duYP4hxF0a

— Clemson Wire (@Clemson_Wire) October 3, 2026

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“We’re already a month into this thing. That is a crazy stat,” McAfee said.

He expects Miami coach Mario Cristobal’s team to deliver another convincing performance.

“I will take the Miami Hurricanes to get a big win over Clemson,” McAfee said.

Clark, the Indiana Fever guard and former Iowa standout, also backed Miami to complete the sweep.

Kirk Herbstreit did not make a pick because he will call the game alongside Chris Fowler on ABC. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., when Clemson will get its opportunity to produce a result none of Saturday’s pickers predicted.

Contact us at @Clemson_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news, notes and opinions.

This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: ESPN’s College GameDay experts make their picks for Clemson vs. No. 4 Miami