For Clemson football, it was Deja vu all over again.
Another big game and another demoralizing loss. This road has been traveled far too many times since the Tigers last won a nationally significant game all the way back in the 2019 play-offs. It is a road that hits the same dead end, over and over again.
When does Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers find the right heading and turn back onto the highway?
Saturday’s loss to LSU at home, in primetime, on national television was supposed to be a statement that Swinney’s way was the right one. That Clemson football had weathered the storm of NIL and the transfer portal and assembled a team that could legitimately contend for a national championship.
Maybe they can. All the pieces are (supposedly) there, but on Saturday, they lay in a big, disorganized pile when quarterback Cade Klubnik’s last ditch rollout and errant pass hit the ground with under a minute to play. All of the hype, the expectations, and the praise heaped Clemson’s way during the offseason came to a crashing halt in a head-on collision with reality.
Clemson football is the same that it’s been for the past five years. A talented team that underachieves on the biggest stage.
There are myriad reasons the game played out as it did. We can start with the offense. A Clemson football team that returned 80 percent of its production from last season could barely move the ball. The run game was abandoned early, and with Klubnik reduced to a drop-back passer, the LSU defensive line simply pinned back its ears and sent pressure on nearly every play. The Clemson Tigers’ offensive line, which returned essentially intact from 2024, was powerless to stop it.
And where was Tristan Smith? If Clemson was intent on simply trying to air it out, it would make sense that the 6-foot-5-inch transfer who Swinney hailed as an amazing player all offseason would see the field. I cannot remember seeing Smith play one snap. Surely a jump ball threat could have eased some of the pressure on Cade.
Cade Klubnik vs LSU | Every Pass & Run
And the running game? The nicest way to say this is simply, it was not good.
Adam Randall is a great athlete. The converted wide receiver is not a running back. Sure, Randall scored the only touchdown for Clemson football, but he finished the game with five carries for less than 20 yards. It seemed like every back on the roster touched the ball at least once in a vain attempt to find something on the ground that would work. Every back but one. Gideon Davidson. Clemson’s prized recruit, who only played a handful of snaps, was the only running back who never got a single touch.
Nothing else worked, so why? Would it have hurt to see what the dynamic true freshman could have done with the ball in his hands?
Defensively, the numbers were not terrible. They were not great, either. It still seemed that LSU was able to pick up too many chunk plays. Tackling in the run game was spotty, and there were still too many missed tackles when LSU ball carriers were hit initially behind the line of scrimmage. That has to improve.
It did not help that all-world safety Khalil Barnes went down with an injury in the second half and did not return. LSU took advantage of that opportunity. The Clemson Tigers never cashed in on theirs.
Finally, let’s talk about play calling. For Clemson football it seemed there were opportunities to find holes in the LSU defense. Unfortunately, it was the same plays ran over and over again. The short game was nonexistent. Most passes were shots downfield, and while that aggressiveness is terrific, a lack of short game meant that LSU could sit their safeties back and spy on everything over the middle. It was exactly what they did. And it worked.
Meanwhile, LSU started wearing out the flats on short screen passes to their playmakers who turned five-yard throws into 20-yard gains. It would have been nice to at least see Clemson football try it, too. Maybe it would have loosed up the pressure being brought in waves by the other Tigers’ defensive line. Maybe not, but now we will never know.
Sure, Clemson football is probably going to annihilate Troy this Saturday as they should. Even if they do, it will tell us far less than last Saturday did. That this is a Clemson team that has not made the necessary improvements from last year despite all of the feel-good lip service heard all offseason.
The good news is it is not too late to fix it. Clemson football is still a team that can make a big run to the play-offs. A lot has to be fixed in order for that to happen, and it has to start now.
