Tigers look to extend the winning streak to 3
Welcome back STS readers! The air has finally gotten that autumn crisp, and the Tigers have managed to put some wins together to become bowl-eligible ahead of this last stretch of games. They aren’t making it pretty or easy, but wins are wins and you will take them however you can get them. Here is my good, bad, and ugly from the win at Syracuse.
The Good: Nolan Hauser is still the man, and this team would be in a world of hurt if not for him. He did miss a 57 yarder a couple of yards short because
he hit it fat. Wish I could hit something that far without a clean strike. Clemson’s red zone problems persist, but at least Hauser has prevented those from being empty possessions. The defense was also very good for the majority of the contest and held the Orange under 20 points. It also provided the lone touchdown for the Tigers when Kortney Kelly and Jaheim Lawson combined for a sack-fumble-TD return that was the real difference in the game. Tait Reynolds shut the door for the second straight game with his running ability. He is becoming more and more dangerous as the season progresses. Clemson managed to hit a huge run by Jarvis Green right out of the gate as well as a deep ball completion to Wesco and a nifty WR pass play to TJ Moore. Chad Morris is certainly trying to get big plays back into the picture.
The Bad: Clemson’s defense was good when it had to be but struggled with tackling more noticeably in this game. Sammy Brown hit Ahmad Miller two yards behind the LOS and Miller ended up getting a 4 yard run dragging Brown and at least two other Tigers along the way. Branden Strozier had a bad missed tackle in man coverage that led to an explosive play when the game was getting tight. Clemson’s passing game continues to be plagued by either critical drops or Reynolds and the WR missing route adjustments post snap.
The Ugly: Injuries take my ugly designation for this week. Clemson went into this game with multiple starters out and then lost Donavan Starr for the season before it ended. Injuries are part of any season for every team, but Clemson has been hit pretty hard this year, including extended or season-ending injuries to Polo Anderson, Corian Gipson, Markus Strong, and Gordon Sellars. Elyjah Thurmon has missed two games+, Harris Sewell, Gideon Davidson, Kobe McCloud, and Tyler Brown all missed this past week. Hopefully the worst is behind the team now in this regard.
Speaking of injuries, Georgia Tech has had a lot of that happen to them and definitely comes limping into Death Valley after getting throttled at home by Louisville last week, which led to a large staff overhaul by Brent Key. GT’s fortunes have turned significantly since last year. The Jackets were 9-1 going into November 14th, 2025 and have since lost 10 of their last 12 games. Clemson is in no position to take anyone lightly these days, and the Tigers have also been pretty poor in Death Valley against power conference teams since that ominous loss to Louisville in 2024. Clemson still has a small hope to get to Charlotte, but that would be a much stronger possibility had they not blown it at home to Virginia Tech. Clemson’s fans could really use the shot in the arm a complete game would provide, not to mention a team that has improved but still has to take another big step on offense to think it can challenge a legitimate top 25 opponent.
Clemson Offense vs. GT Defense: Last year’s loss to GT stung badly (pun intended). Clemson never really seemed to recover from that loss. Clemson’s offense was not good that day in Atlanta against a defense that a lot of other teams punished. This year’s offense has obviously been poor, especially when it comes to scoring touchdowns. CSU offered a great chance to get something rolling, but that didn’t really happen. This is definitely the next best chance against a defense that just fired its coordinator and several other staff members. GT has been gashed by opposing running games the vast majority of the season and are currently giving up 222.8 yards per game on the ground. Clemson certainly needs to attack this weakness and will hopefully have Davidson back to bolster the running back corps. GT is likely going to do what is has to with loading the box to try to force Clemson to throw, so that should provide more single coverage chances for the wideouts. That unit has not punished people nearly enough this season and could build a sad lowlight tape of dropped balls on big play chances. More than anything, Clemson could really use something that hits for a TD and not just a big gain because the offense has routinely blown it when it has had to run more plays.
I certainly feel Tait Reynolds is getting closer to truly breaking out. He still had some issues last week, particularly with reading route adjustments based on coverages. He threw long to Moore and Burroughs when the coverage dictated either a back shoulder or a direct throw. However, he was better about avoiding sacks and was definitely a factor running the ball throughout the game. GT is not as good on defense as Syracuse and certainly is weaker at corner, so you have to hope Wesco and/or Moore can really dominate a matchup for the first time this season. Moore in particular could really use a strong game to snap out of his funk and get out of his own head.
I do theorize that the plan with Reynolds is to minimize balls in jeopardy, which would explain fewer throws to the middle of the field. The defense has emerged to the point that not putting them in a terrible spot with a turnover and forcing teams to have to drive on them is a key to success. This was a very Danny Ford era style of play and it led to many games that looked like last week’s during that time. The key was the vast majority of those games were wins. Chad Morris is having to temper working to unlock the offense with not putting the defense in a bind or exposing Reynolds more than is necessary.
GT is only 2-7, but they did manage to beat Duke who is a good team. The Jackets were a bit lucky in that game, but at the same time they made star running back Nate Sheppard grind out his 97 yards on 27 carries and did just enough on defense to hold on. I don’t put it past this Clemson offense to make any defense look good, but there really should be no excuse for not getting 30+ points against a team surrendering 32.2 points per game. It starts with taking care of the ball and cutting down on penalties. I actually felt the OL was better at this last week considering Grant Wise and Gavin Blanchard were starting. It felt like the most veteran of the group, RT Collin Sadler, was the weakest link of the night. I still hold out hope that Blanchard’s play will allow for Thurmon to get a chance at RT to see if he can be a better option over there. But Thurmon is not yet clear of concussion protocol from that scary hit at FSU.
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Clemson Defense vs. GT Offense: There are always those opposing players you are happy to see move on from a team you play every year. Haynes King is one of those guys and he was absolutely the difference in last year’s loss to the Jackets in Atlanta. GT brought in Alberto Mendoza from Indiana, and while he is a capable player and probably a better pure passer than King, he is nowhere near the running menace that King was. Buster Faulkner took his talents (and a few former GT players) to Gainesville, perhaps seeing the writing on the wall for the current struggles GT is facing. GT has tried backup quarterback Grady Adamson some because he is more of a running threat than Mendoza but neither are nearly the physical force King was. This year’s defense has been a lot better at bothering the quarterback, and we saw that last week when they got Angeli rattled. Tom Allen has had some excellent results in the initial parts of every game since Miami which is when you face the scripted portion of an opponent’s gameplan. GT doesn’t need anything that is going to offer them hope so hopefully that trend will continue this week.
GT does have two quality running backs despite some of their struggles running the football. Justice Haynes was a coveted recruit who started with Bama and then went to Michigan before landing at GT. New OC George Godsey played for Ralph Friedgen and has an NFL background, but the transition into his system from Faulkner’s has not been very smooth (and Clemson fans can empathize). Former Tiger superstar Nuk Hopkins got elevated to WR coach after Key made his firings. Oklahoma had a better performance after making some offensive changes in their win over Florida, but it is difficult to really make a lot of wholesale changes to what you do at this point in a season. Sometimes a new voice can offer new motivation and guys just perform better as a result, so that is something you hope doesn’t happen this week. Clemson’s defense should once again be in good position to match up on GT’s outside skill, so it comes down to making sure Haynes and Trelain Maddox cannot get anything going and force Mendoza and/or Adamson to do all the heavy lifting. GT has serious issues across its OL with injuries and also not being able to replace a talent like Keylan Rutledge, who was a serious dude on the Plains before being drafted in the first round. Unlike other position groups, Clemson’s DL is actually getting healthier and should be counted on to own this matchup.
Clemson does have a wildcard situation at nickel after Starr’s unfortunate injury. It will be interesting to see how Tom Allen and his staff adjust this time when there isn’t as clear of an option to step in as there was when Corian Gipson went down. You can bet GT and other staffs are going to attempt to attack that area as opposed to testing Ashton Hampton or Elliot Washington.
Special Teams: Clemson’s field goal kicking continued to be a strength but there was the first real gaff of the season when Bryant Wesco fumbled a punt return and really killed a great chance for the team to jump on Syracuse earlier in the game. They also gave up a longer return to offset a strong punt by Nolan Hauser. However, it is hard to be on your A game each week and the overall body of work suggests this unit can be expected to deliver for the Tigers. Clemson is back to being a solid favorite this week, and I always say that upset wins and losses usually feature at least one special teams situation going against the favorite. Perhaps the offense will finally take some of the pressure off this group and the defense and increase their margin of error.
Overall: I like Brent Key and think he is about as ideal a coach as GT could hope to have in the modern era of college football. He made some ambitious changes to try to get the Jackets out of their current spiral. He certainly knows that beating Clemson is always going to offer more credibility than just about any other game they play besides UGA. Clemson is built similarly to Tennessee this year and feature a strong defense but a spotty offense with some limitations at QB. GT had some success on that Vols defense back in September, but they were also healthier up front then than they are now. Still, you can’t take anyone lightly and you hope this year’s team is more cognizant of that than the last couple of teams. I will say this year’s Tigers are decidedly more physical than last year’s team and are not letting the opponents throw the first punches and having to react. That was GT’s true edge last year in this matchup, and I feel a lot better about Clemson being ready this time. Above all, Clemson needs to deliver at home on senior day and start restoring the roar in Death Valley.
