The Tigers Desperately Look to Right the Ship on Saturday Night
Well STS readers, I come to you this week recovering from an extremely sobering experience last Saturday night. I predicted a fight even in a loss, and if it even qualified as a fight, it resembled Drago vs. Apollo in Rocky IV. Probably an adequate analogy because Apollo USED to be great, but he was no match for the modernized superweapon Drago. Did the Soviets cheat to develop him? Absolutely, but at that point they were doing whatever it took to be superior no matter the morality of it. Clemson
fans like me could be heard yelling “throw in the damn towel!” by maybe the fourth possession of the game. It was that obvious that Clemson was completely and totally outmatched at the lines of scrimmage and the surrounding skill had zero chance because of it on either side of the ball.
How did it come to this? I posted this in a comment on the game review thread and will paste it here as it summarizes what I have painfully allowed myself to realize: “I hate it for Dabo and others who really want to do this the way it is supposed to be done, which is to develop men and grow boys to men and that takes time more often than not. That is what the transfer portal and NIL and lack of tampering control has created and as much as Dabo has tried to evolve I just don’t see how he could ever get to what actually has to be done now if you want to be elite. I bet if you begin to track LSU, Ohio State, Texas, etc, going forward, you will see that maybe 50% of their rosters will start and finish with them and the other half will be brought in from elsewhere at some stage of their five-year playing window. Dabo swallows hard just to have the maybe 15% we are up to now that would check that box. I totally understand why, but either Dabo has to let go of that OR Clemson needs a huge break and actual sane rules return to CFB. Otherwise, we are back to 1995 where we might be able to beat ok teams and bad teams but are done beating anyone that is legit top 15 in stature.”
I am a Clemson Tiger for life and lived through the lean years between Ford and Dabo. I’ll still tune in and attend games when I can, but I know now that something has to give if Clemson is ever going to hope to compete at the highest level and it may get worse before it can get better. I’m still looking for pathways to wins, as many wins as this team can find a way to manage. I agree they are likely better than that product we saw in Baton Rouge, but that is not saying a lot either considering how FCS level the Tigers looked in that game.
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Clemson Offense vs. Georgia Southern Defense: Clemson must win this game for obvious reasons and certainly should not experience the same gaps in talent/experience across the lines of scrimmage in this matchup compared to the first one. This is a “buy” game for a reason, so Clemson simply cannot afford to blow it. Job #1 has to be getting the running game operational even if it means it takes longer to put the Eagles away (provided it doesn’t become a dogfight). Clemson has zero shot at anything meaningful unless the team can finally figure out at least two or three staple runs it can build around. This means you can manage 2-3 yards at least more often than not versus a TFL. Clemson had nothing it could go to vs. LSU. Jets and counters rely on the basic inside or stretch runs being at least marginally effective to set them up. Matt Luke and Chad Morris need to find 5 OL who can execute a call at the minimum no matter how young or how much money might be invested in that player. Physically whipping someone is the goal, but that goal is totally unreachable if the OL is blocking air or flailing away because of late recognition. “Get run over slowly” is the starting point because it at least offers some form of resistance. Clemson allowed LSU defenders to come clean into the backfield on well over half the offensive snaps it managed to get. If Clemson cannot line up and pound Davidson, Johnson and company with a few QB runs and jet sweeps mixed in versus Georgia Southern, then a likely 3-4 loss season is going to quickly turn into a likely 5-7 loss season. Clemson took a half last year to finally get something going against Troy. LSU took a lot out of the 2025 team mentally and emotionally. Dabo says this team can “handle hard better” and we are certainly about to find out if that is true or just more misplaced offseason hope.
One small bright spot (as small as that might be) was that of all the Clemson OL that played last week, Easton Ware did about as well as could be expected in that environment as a first-time starter. He was just slightly behind Elyjah Thurmon in PFF grade (though nobody broke a 60 grade on the OL not surprisingly). I’m not sure what happened with Brayden Jacobs but he struggled mightily as did Ronan O’Connell. Jacobs is the most concerning because he was supposed to be the alpha on the OL. He’s still relatively young and has definitely shown better play but he’s got to get it together between the ears sooner rather than later or the staff needs to be willing to put someone else out there until he does. Harris Sewell was once again injured and could not start, but at this stage it needs to be giving any of those scholarship OL a real shot at claiming a job. Who can run block the best? Start with that and figure the pass protection out later.
Vizzina posted an abysmal 30 PFF grade which was lower than I thought it might be. The pick six clearly was a major factor as was not seeing Davidson breaking wide open on the wheel and nearly throwing a pick when the game was still relatively in reach. Tait Reynolds flashed his athletic juice but no quarterback had any real chance to deliver thanks to horrific OL play. I want to pull for CV but the staff has to figure out which QB can help us establish some form of running game first and foremost. The defense has to be protected better. Clemson has to have a QB who can at least somewhat function if the protection isn’t great too, that is the reality. Reynolds is much more likely the guy equipped for that role. CV needs the OL to be a lot better to have a real chance. It was a shame Wesco dropped a good CV throw early that would have moved the chains. Clemson simply cannot afford any of those right now. Dabo highlighted WR blocking as a positive on Sunday night, but it was hard to really notice that considering the disaster at the line of scrimmage. Hopefully that will continue and the rest of the unit can catch up somewhat.
I thought it might take Chad more time to get things going. He didn’t have a Troy-Wofford combination to start with this time like he did in 2011. UNC will bring a capable defense to the building in two weeks, so this week is critical to iron out at least a chunk of the myriad problems that plagued the operations on offense at LSU. Getting hats on hats is top priority.
Clemson Defense vs. Ga. Southern Offense: The Eagles have journeyman Max Johnson behind center so they have a guy with significant power 5 experience. They dominated Charleston Southern in game one and put up over 300 yards passing with Johnson going for 281 of that before his day was over. I thought the Clemson secondary was largely the bright spot, especially early on. They got absolutely no help from the front and had to come clean up nearly 80% of the LSU rushing attempts. Sammy Brown did what he could and led the team in tackles along with Myrick and Carter. Hampton and Washington were mostly strong in coverage and Hampton produced the lone turnover that led to a very brief 3-0 lead before the onslaught ensued. Certainly Clemson’s front can be more disruptive against a Sun Belt OL that saw most of its best talent leave via the portal from the year before, right? Things didn’t get easier with the injury to Markus Strong who was a top 3 DT in a thin room. Clemson got a couple of nice moments out of Champ Thompson and hopefully he will be able to build on that and help fill a big void. LSU’s rebuilt OL was largely dominant and even when the Tigers got into the backfield, Leavitt was able to escape for big scrambles more often than not due to poor contain and angles. Johnson is not nearly as mobile so that will be a relief, but the tackling and edge setting has got to improve exponentially.
Clemson fans’ uneasiness about the DT spot were justified. Kiffin and his staff attacked it relentlessly in the first half which then opened up the rest of their attack as the game wore on. LSU looked like Clemson used to look in terms of being able to dictate to the defense and the offense and eliminating the primary means of operation. Thankfully not very many have the personnel the Bayou Tigers enjoy, but there is a large jump the Tigers need to make from being humiliated to being competitive and then, God willing, superior. I don’t see this happening against the better 3-4 teams left on the schedule but finishing above .500 requires it. Getting to 8 wins might be the ceiling now.
Clemson got some flashes from a few front four guys like Heldt, Thompson, and London Merritt but not nearly enough consistently. Clemson rarely if ever was able to get a guy coming free in the backfield the way LSU did, which shows you the value of getting a hat on a hat for your offense. I’m sure both Tom Allen and Chad Morris felt helpless in deciding what they could call that might actually produce. Even when Clemson was in position to make a few big plays they either missed the tackle or somehow missed breaking up or intercepting the throw by mere inches. Clemson also was more heavily penalized, especially in the first half, which helped LSU who didn’t really need any help.
This is a big game for the Tigers now. This is a big game for Nick Eason and his unit in particular. They need to stop the run and affect the quarterback, or at least show signs they can get to being able to do that before facing more explosive attacks from Miami and Louisville in particular.
Special Teams: Not much to report on this phase from week one. Nolan Hauser looked good on his lone FG attempt. Punting was OK as was coverage, though Jack Smith is not going to be on any Ray Guy list. Returns were just the usual OK we have been accustomed to seeing. I guess the best news was this phase didn’t kill Clemson like the other two did. It is a sad state of affairs to say that. I always say that special teams almost always factor into any upset you see when the line is double figures. Clemson certainly needs to find some extra production in this phase for this team to overachieve.
Overall: I’ll be following this game loosely as I go see Iron Maiden in Charlotte on Saturday night. Might be best for my mental health to not subject myself to live Clemson football for a week anyway. Hopefully this game resembles the 2025 Furman game and not the 2025 Troy game (or worse). The natives will be very, very restless if the Tigers get off to a poor start. Dabo has to know he is running out of time and patience even with someone like me who has been adamant on giving him the benefit of the doubt for all he has done for Clemson. There simply is too much money invested in a product that looks like it couldn’t hang with Boise State who is operating on a fraction of Clemson’s budget.
We all know what needs to happen and now it is just a matter of seeing if the Tigers can actually deliver on it. There have been some teams that rebounded from a blowout opening loss to some respectable seasons, namely the 1996, 2003, and 2024 teams, but only the 2024 team got to 10 wins from that group and only the 2003 team won its final game. As for me, I’m worried about win 1 and then I will think about win 2. What I saw last Saturday shook me to the core the way the 1993 loss at Florida State did back then. It is possible that last week was just a perfect storm against Clemson and we will see a much-improved product soon, but as you can tell I’m skeptical. I have a son at Indiana and a daughter at Clemson and never thought my son would have the power football program to enjoy in that scenario. Go Tigers?
