While Syracuse fans are dealing with another season hampered by injury to the starting quarterback, another ACC school was in unchartered territory over the weekend. The Clemson Tigers found themselves
on the short end of a 35-24 decision against the SMU Mustangs, but what was notable was that it’s the first time in over a decade that a Clemson starting QB didn’t start due to injury.
Cade Klubnik missed the game and sophomore Christopher Vizzina made the start and while Vizzina’s stats were pretty strong (29-42 for 317 yards and 3 TD’s), the Tigers join the Orange at matching 3-4 records. Of course Syracuse fans aren’t going to shed any tears for Dabo because here’s a list of the backup quarterbacks who have started a game at quarterback for the Orange since the last time Clemson had to toss the keys to their #2.
- Zach Mahoney
- Rex Culpepper
- Clayton Welch
- JaCobian Morgan
- Garrett Shrader
- Carlos Del-Rio Wilson
- Dan Villari
- Braden Davis
- Rickie Collins
Clemson fans will probably remind us that they have dealt with injuries before- most memorably during the 2017 upset win by Syracuse when Kelly Bryant left the game in the first half. That’s a lot different than having to count on a backup playing multiple games in a season.

If we went back to the 2014 regular season then Syracuse would add AJ Long and Austin Wilson to make it 11 backups starting games in the same timeframe that Clemson has had 2 such instances. We aren’t going to dig through all the FBS programs to see where this ranks, but it’s got to be pretty rare to see so many different starting quarterbacks (mostly due to injury). Maybe Syracuse needs to grab more Ohio State transfers, or burn some sage in quarterback meeting room. Whatever needs to be done, let’s stop this disturbing trend as soon as possible.