No. 4 Clemson won so much over more than a decade that it felt like a step back when the Tigers didn't reach 10 wins two years ago in the first of back-to-back four-loss seasons.
Still, the Tigers are the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference champions and coming off a trip to the College Football Playoff. Experience from that run is part of why the Tigers are the runaway preseason pick to finish atop the ACC again.
“Experience, as they say, doesn't come at a discount,” coach Dabo Swinney said.
Clemson won at least 10 games from 2011-2022, including two national championships and eight ACC titles, before a nine-win year in 2023. The Tigers (10-4) beat SMU for last year's title.
“I think our mentality is, man, we're keeping our head down, just kind of keeping it low," said quarterback Cade Klubnik, the preseason ACC player of the year.
Clemson returns four Associated Press All-ACC picks from last year, including first-team offensive lineman Blake Miller and two defensive linemen (Peter Woods and T.J. Parker) ranked in the top three among returners at their position nationally by Pro Football Focus.
Overall, Clemson held 11 of 27 spots on the preseason all-ACC team. No other team held more than three.
The ACC has two other teams ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 with No. 10 Miami and No. 16 SMU.
The Hurricanes were the league’s highest-ranked team much of last year, though they missed the ACC title game after losing at Syracuse. They brought in Georgia transfer quarterback Carson Beck as the successor to No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Cam Ward.
The Mustangs have back-to-back 11-win seasons under Rhett Lashlee, who led SMU to an 8-0 record in its first league season. SMU returns quarterback Kevin Jennings (28 total touchdowns last year), and AP all-ACC picks in offensive lineman Logan Parr, safety Isaiah Nwokobia and kicker Collin Rogers.
Florida State entered last season as the reigning ACC champion and preseason favorite, then went 2-10. Coach Mike Norvell's offseason included hiring two coordinators, notably former Auburn and UCF head coach Gus Malzahn for the offense.
“When you come to Florida State, you’d better embrace the highest of expectations, because it’s what I have, it’s what our program has,” Norvell said.
Three new coaches arrive in North Carolina's Bill Belichick, Wake Forest's Jake Dickert and Stanford's Frank Reich.
Belichick led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles but this is his first college season, while the school is betting on the 73-year-old to elevate its football profile after moving on from Mack Brown.
Dickert left Washington State for Wake Forest after Dave Clawson unexpectedly stepped down after the season.
Reich, who joins Belichick and Boston College's Bill O'Brien as the ACC's national-high three former NFL head coaches, is an interim coach after the spring firing of Troy Taylor due to off-field concerns.
Sixth-ranked Notre Dame has six games against ACC teams as part of its annual scheduling partnership with the league, with the football independent being a member of all other ACC sports. Those don't count in the league standings but certainly have CFP implications for last year's national runner-up.
The biggest comes with an opening-game trip to Miami (Aug. 31), along with trips to Boston College (Nov. 1), Pittsburgh (Nov. 15) and Stanford (Nov. 29). The Irish's home games come against N.C. State (Oct. 11) and Syracuse (Nov. 22).
Boston College, Duke, FSU, UNC, Pittsburgh and Virginia are this year's teams to touch all four U.S. continental time zones for a league road trip in Year 2 of westward expansion.
California hosts the Blue Devils (Oct. 4), Tar Heels (Oct. 17) and Cavaliers (Nov. 1). Stanford hosts the Eagles (Sept. 13), Seminoles (Oct. 18) and Panthers (Nov. 1).
That would leave Clemson and Georgia Tech as the only ACC teams yet to travel to California. Both go next year, the Tigers to Cal and the Yellow Jackets to Stanford.
The league gets immediate measuring-stick matchups.
Week 1 features LSU visiting Clemson, Alabama visiting Florida State, TCU visiting UNC and Georgia Tech visiting Colorado. There are also Atlanta games with Syracuse meeting Tennessee and Virginia Tech facing South Carolina.
Key conference games include Clemson visiting Georgia Tech (Sept. 13), hosting SMU (Oct. 18) and traveling to Louisville (Nov. 14). Miami hosts Louisville (Oct. 17) and visits SMU (Nov. 1), while SMU hosts Louisville (Nov. 22).
The ACC title game is Dec. 6 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
FILE - Pittsburgh's Desmond Reid (0) carries the ball against Kent State during an NCAA college football game, Aug. 31, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gregory Payan, File)
FILE - Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik (2) throws a pass during an NCAA college football game against South Carolina, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Clemson, S.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman, FIle)
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AP) — A construction crane crashed onto a moving passenger train in northeastern Thailand on Wednesday, triggering a fiery derailment that killed at least 32 people and injured dozens more.
The crash occurred in Nakhon Ratchasima, some 200 kilometers (135 miles) northeast of Bangkok, on a section of a planned high-speed rail project that is intended to eventually connect China with much of Southeast Asia.
The province's Public Health Provincial Office said there were 32 fatalities and 64 injured victims, including seven with severe injuries. There were still three passengers missing among the 171 believed to have been on board the train, it said in a statement issued as night fell.
Authorities said the crane was being used to build an elevated part of the railway when it fell as the train was traveling from the capital, Bangkok, to Ubon Ratchathani province. Thailand's Rail Transport Department said the crane was what is called a launching gantry crane, a self-supporting structure with vertical legs that usually runs on rails or wheels for mobility, allowing it to progress along with the construction project that it straddles. Such cranes are often used to help build elevated roads.
Images published in Thai media showed plumes of white, then dark, smoke rising from the crash site, with construction equipment dangling from girders between two concrete support pillars.
Rescue workers stood on top of overturned railway carriages, some of them with gaping holes torn on their sides, video from public broadcaster ThaiPBS showed. What appeared to be sections of the crane were scattered along the track.
Sixty-two year-old Samai Teechantuek, whose house is about 100 meters (yards) from the site of the accident, told The Associated Press of the horror of witnessing the accident, and hearing “the noises screeching, and then bam, bam, bam, all the way over there.”
“When the dust settled, I saw the top of the train carriage. I heard people shouting ‘save the children first!’” she said. "A conductor pulled people out. I saw them pulling many people out. People from the shop over there also ran out to help.”
“My legs were shaking. I was standing there shaking. I didn’t dare going any closer,” she said.
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said he ordered an investigation.
In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers. Days of heavy rainfall were believed to have been a factor in the collapse.
The elevated segment that collapsed is a part of a Thai-Chinese high-speed railway project linking the capital to the northeastern province of Nong Khai, bordering Laos. The two-stage rail project has a total investment cost of more than 520 billion baht ($16.8 billion) and is associated with an ambitious plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative. The section where the accident took place had a budget of more than 179 billion baht ($5.7 billion) and according to its original plans was expected to start operating in 2027.
Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project's contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision.
He said authorities will examine the responsibilities of both parties, and the Railway Department plans to take legal action against the contractor as a first step. Damage to the train was estimated to be more than 100 million baht ($3.2 million), while construction equipment suffered limited damage, said Anan.
A statement posted on the company's website expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would take responsibility for paying compensation to the families of the dead and hospitalization expenses for the injured.
The main contractor for the route's first stage between Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima, Italian-Thai Development, was also the directly responsible for construction of the segment where Wednesday's accident occurred.
The rail accident sparked outrage because the company, also known as Italthai, was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in the Thai capital Bangkok, which collapsed during construction in March during a major earthquake.
About 100 people were killed in the collapse, which was the only major structure in Thailand to suffer such serious damage. Dozens of executives were indicted in connection with the disaster but none have yet been tried.
The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai's and Chinese companies' involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, had occurred.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who was interior minister when the State Audit Building collapsed, said that the Comptroller General’s Department and Transport Ministry are responsible for blacklisting contractors, and the laws could not be amended in the brief time he was interior minister to expedite the matter.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the government was aware of the reports about the accident and had expressed condolences.
“The Chinese government attaches great importance to the safety of projects and personnel, and we are also learning about the situation,” he said. “At present, it appears that the relevant section is being constructed by a Thai company, and the cause of the accident is still under investigation.”
Wasamon reported from Bangkok.
Rescuers try to lift the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers work amid the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
A rescuer stands near the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers try to lift the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers work amidst the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers work amidst the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
An aid workers at the scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathathida Adireksarn)
The wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathathida Adireksarn)
This photo released from Thailand's Ministry of Transport, shows a scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Ministry of Transport via AP)
This photo released from State Railway of Thailand, shows aid workers after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
This photo released from State Railway of Thailand, shows a scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
This photo released from State Railway of Thailand, shows a scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
This photo released from State Railway of Thailand, shows aid workers after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
This photo provided by State Railway of Thailand shows a scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
