First off, apologies for this article being a little late this week.
The opening week of college football, paired with a holiday, really created a bottleneck when trying to get this article out. Now, onto one last look back at a weekend that made us go “meh”.
The Clemson Tigers were defeated by LSU Saturday night, and while it’s a little hard to glean offensive stars from the game, there is one unit that deserves some credit, as well as a few individual performances on defense. Let’s dive in.
Star #1: Ronin Hannifin
If I mentioned
someone getting the highest PFF grade for Clemson while playing a different position than they did in 2024, most of you would’ve assumed it was Adam Randall. But this week, Mr. Hannifin took home top honors from PFF with a grade of 79.4 (which, for PFF, is a pretty stellar number). His performance Saturday night showed that he’s developed into a more-than-capable safety/nickel defender. Credit where it’s due.
Star #2: Christian Bentancur / Olsen Patt-Henry
This one’s a bit of a stretch, given how lackluster the offense was overall. However, both tight ends combined for 45 receiving yards, averaging around 11 yards per catch. Each had either a highlight-reel grab or a tough catch-and-run moment in the game. For all the negatives, it was at least good to see these two start stepping into the shoes of Jake Briningstool.
Star #3: Tom Allen
Okay, so this is cheating. He’s not a player—but for the first game of the “Tom Allen Era,” I’d call it a success.
LSU has an elite offense, and Clemson was able to hold them to a relatively modest 17 points and 356 total yards. Giving up 108 yards on the ground isn’t eye-popping, but there was a noticeable physicality to that side of the ball. For the first time in a while, it felt like the defense belonged in a high-profile matchup.
I’ve noticed a lot of nitpicking over the last few days, which to me is actually a good sign—it means the bar has been raised, and the coordinator hire was likely the right move.
Wrapping Up
So there it is: the three stars of the week for Clemson. There’s zero room for error going forward. Hopefully, over the coming weeks, I’ll have more than just three stars per game to consider. But until then, we soldier on.
Go Tigers.
