Tiger Woes

Coach Dabo Swinney shows frustration during Clemson's game at Virginia Tech. (Photo By: Charles Mays)

The Clemson Tigers were hoping for a fresh start coming into the first-ever 12-Team Playoff; however, they were cursed with the same facets of the game that haunted them all season long. Looking at the Tigers’ offense, Clemson came out strong against the Longhorns, scoring on their first drive just like many of their previous games. Yet, they were unable to sustain success, leading to four straight drives resulting in zero points, which gave Texas an opportunity to pull away. The Tiger offense also faltered many times throughout the season as well. Obviously, their performance against Georgia in Week 1 showed zero production; however, this game against the Longhorns was reminiscent of their home loss to Louisville. Offensively, in the first half, the Tigers put together a good scoring drive in both games. However, they were unable to sustain success building off of those drives, giving both the Cardinals and Longhorns an opportunity to increase the lead going into halftime. In the second half of both games, Clemson came out and scored on a couple of drives and even put both games within reach. Yet, that success was also not sustained throughout the whole half. In the Texas game, Clemson failed to convert on multiple fourth-down conversions, including one from the Texas 1-yard line that would have put the game back to a one-score contest. The Tigers showed a ton of improvement on offense this season, but they lacked sustainability against a higher level of competition, which led to vast deficits deciding the game. However, there is a ton to look forward to going into next season, being led by Quarterback Cade Klubnik. Klubnik threw for 336 passing yards, 3 TDs, and 1 INT against a Texas secondary that has only given up a season-high of 202 passing yards and 4 total passing touchdowns. Cade Klubnik almost finished the 21-point comeback tonight, but he will be looking to regroup his guys for the complete comeback next season.

Defensive Coordinator Wes Goodwin (Photo By: Charles Mays)

Defensively, the Tigers’ failure was also very reminiscent of much of their downfall during the regular season. Clemson struggled a lot during the season stopping the run, resulting in their losses to Georgia, Louisville, and South Carolina, letting up over 6.3 yards per carry in each contest. The Tigers attempted to fix that issue by going to a full-time 4-3 defensive set with Freshman Linebacker Sammy Brown in the middle, but they were still very unsuccessful against the Longhorns. Texas dominated the trenches, which eventually led to their victory. They ran for almost 300 rushing yards, averaging 6.1 yards per carry with two rushers over the 100-yard mark. While the Tiger defense stood up at times to get them back into the game, a failure to play complementary football at the right times also diminished the chances of victory. Once momentum was back on the side of Clemson, the Tiger defense gave up a 77-yard touchdown run to Texas RB Jaydon Blue, extending the Longhorn lead back to 14 points. The glaring issues on defense for Clemson fall onto the fundamentals. The Tigers' tackling looked extremely poor all season long, resulting in those four critical losses. Looking back to South Carolina, QB LaNorris Sellers forced 18 missed tackles on Clemson, which is the most forced by any player in a game this season other than Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty. Misfits and gap discipline also ultimately killed Clemson’s chances at a fourth national championship. The fix for Clemson’s defense starts with the big guys up front. The Tigers have become notoriously known for having one of the best and most physical defensive lines in the country, and this year that was not the case. The only defensive lineman with more than 4 sacks was DE T.J. Parker, who carried the Tigers with 11 sacks on the year. Clemson has to get back to the fundamentals and their physicality to get back to competing on the highest of stages. It will be very interesting to see how Coach Swinney decides to handle this off-season as he has already shown he is prepared to change some of his ways, going in the portal twice so far. This upcoming off-season for the Tigers will be very monumental for their future success as a football program in this new landscape of College Football.