CLEMSON, S.C.– Coming off a resounding win in Blacksburg three weeks ago, many around the nation felt Clemson gave itself one mulligan for a loss in the rest of its schedule thanks to three top-15 wins in the month of September.
No one believed that loss would come to Syracuse six days ago.
The Tigers looked uninterested (11 penalties to the tune of 119 yards) and gassed as the night progressed resulting in a 27-24 defeat forcing no room for error if they are to appear in a third consecutive ACC title game.
Quarterback Kelly Bryant didn’t look right from the opening drive. He was unable to plant his left foot since he rolled an ankle in the week prior against Wake Forest. The Orange were able to effectively scheme against Bryant due to the fact he was unable to utilize his most valuable skill set, his legs.
With a minute and change remaining in the quarter, Bryant was slammed to the ground on a run resulting in a concussion that sidelined him for the rest of the game and ultimately an unknown for next week’s showdown against Georgia Tech. Any brain injury compounded with a lower extremity issue is something to never to be taken lightly.
Redshirt freshman Zerrick Cooper (10-14, 88 yards) took control of the Tiger offense from there, but never looked in rhythm misfiring badly on a few throws as he did in the week before against Wake. Highly touted five star freshman Hunter Johnson never saw the field, leaving many in Clemson wondering why he never got the call to shake things up when nothing was clicking. Johnson looked crisp the week before in garbage time, too.
Besides the offensive struggles and the head-scratching fake punt, the Clemson defense failed to stop Syracuse three times on third-and-two, third-and-11, and third-and-eight as time would later expire. My math would say Clemson’s defense was on the field for 83 plays, something Brent Venables’ squad isn’t used to doing quite frequently.
In my estimation and the moment news came out about the loss of Greg Huegel, I genuinely believed the kicking game would cost the Tigers a game somewhere. Backup Alex Spence was thrown into a position almost no one would ask for, and went one-of-three against Syracuse amounting to be two-of-six on the season. Spence has reportedly drilled a 50-yarder in a scrimmage after Huegel was down, but it just seems it’s not there mentally right now.
Earlier this week, speculation grew within the Clemson area that Dabo Swinney was rumored to be bringing on a new kicker to bring into the mix. Last night, a rumor surfaced to be true with Drew Costa being brought on for a “kick-to-kick” contract. Read more about this one-of-a-kind story here.
The kicking issues aren’t going away and neither is the stalling out on offense. The deep ball just isn’t there for Clemson, something co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott elaborated on with us Tuesday:
“It’s a combination of finding the right spots and we had one early where we hit Milan (Richard) early and tried to take a deep shot and they were in cover two and ever since maybe Wake Forest on the first drive where we hit Deon (Cain) on the man coverage, we haven’t really gotten a lot of man coverage in those last two games. We as coaches have to find some opportunities and the other thing is just being patient and taking what they can give you and that can be frustrating because you want to throw the ball down field but you’ve got to be smart at times as well.”
Pound the run game and that’ll likely soften up the back end of coverage, something Clemson did during the Wayne Gallman era when Deshaun Watson was having issues with accuracy on those deep shots.
These are the issues that will need be sorted out by the staff through the rest of this week and the next if they truly have a shot at finishing the season at 11-1.
Here’s a quick peek of Clemson’s remaining games (all lines are according to 5dimes):
*Excluding The Citadel*
Oct. 28- Georgia Tech (N/A) at Clemson:
The Yellow Jackets are truly two plays away from being 5-0. Venables has owned the triple option, winning four of the last five meetings, with the only loss coming when Deshaun Watson tore his ACL on an early Tiger drive. TaQuon Marshall has been arguably better than Justin Thomas was last season for Paul Johnson. Had Tech won last week against Miami, I would’ve rolled with them in the Coastal division without a doubt. I like Clemson in a 10-point win here assuming they get healthy and “up” for a night game in Death Valley.
Nov. 4- Clemson (-9.5) at N.C. State:
Dave Doeren has had his best season yet through his four year tenure with the Wolfpack, notching signature wins at Florida State and rolling Louisville at home. Edge rusher Bradley Chubb is a bonafide stud in a powerful front four attack but I have my own reservations with State’s leaky secondary. It ranks 118th in the nation in passing yards allowed per game (287.0). Ryan Finley is more than serviceable and has weapons in Jaylen Samuels and Nyheim Hines that can cause headaches for opposing teams. It’ll be a raucous environment since the Pack will be dying to avenge last year’s loss in what will likely be a night game at Carter-Finley. Should Clemson play clean football and be able to exploit that secondary, they will win. If they can’t, this is a coin flip.
Nov. 11- Florida State at Clemson (-12.5):
Florida State looks like a shell of itself. They have been both marvelous and egregious at times on defense and have a still porous offensive line that can’t block anyone. They have a legit stable of backs in Jacques Patrick and Cam Akers, but that doesn’t do too much good with their line. Poor James Blackman; he might not weigh a buck-eighty. I loved Deondre Francois and was convinced this game would decide the Atlantic division, but this will still be a challenge for the Tigers. It is the third game of another gauntlet stretch in a division rivalry game that’ll require complete focus and self-discipline if the Tigers want to move to 9-1.
Nov. 25- Clemson (-19.5) at South Carolina:
One would think this game will be closer than last year’s 56-7 blowout win in Death Valley. The Gamecocks sit at 4-2, but that could easily be 2-4 with South Carolina accumulating half the amount of yards N.C. State had and slipping by La. Tech at home on a last second field goal to win. Luck is always involved, but South Carolina has been on the right side of things so far. The Gamecocks currently are tied for 15th in turnover margin at +7. If South Carolina is to keep it within three scores, they’ll need to tally a few more of those.
Ultimately, Kurt Roper’s ineffectiveness in play calling and an unsorted running back situation could still be an issue come this time. Also, since they are already thin at offensive line, that hurts even more. South Carolina is still two recruiting cycles away from giving this rivalry game some competitiveness. I like the Tigers to win by 17, but that doesn’t get the cover.
Before the season, I had Clemson pegged to finish 11-1, with a loss coming somewhere in the September slate. That never came to fruition, but a loss to Syracuse did. If the effort and lack of execution is put forth in any of these four games, Clemson will lose, or come pretty darn close to it. Buckle up for what should be an exhilarating last half of the season.
