One of college football’s biggest disappointments through the first three weeks of the season, Clemson tumbled from preseason No. 4 to outside of the top 25 following an unexpected 1-2 start. Only two ACC teams rushed for fewer yards than the Tigers, who have not looked explosive following the departure of Phil Mafah in addition to quarterback Cade Klubnik’s inconsistencies.
Nick Saban says all problems begin up front for Dabo Swinney.
“Clemson has got to get their o-line straightened out,” Saban said on College GameDay prior to Clemson’s loss at Georgia Tech, via The Clemson Insider. “Klubnik has been under pressure and then they can’t run the ball. If they don’t get that fixed they are going to struggle.”
The Tigers played without two starters Saturday in Atlanta, left tackle Tristan Leigh and guard Elyjah Thurmon. Clemson rushed for 174 yards and two touchdowns, much of the damage done by Adam Randall, who finished with 80 yards on 15 carries. Randall was coming off a 112-yard outing in Clemson’s lone win over Troy after getting limited work in the opening loss to LSU.
“I thought they played their best game Saturday. That was our one positive,” Swinney said. “If you told me we were going to outrush Georgia Tech, I’d be surprised. But we took it to them.”
Swinney offered no update on Thurmon or Leigh, who recently had an ankle procedure, over the weekend. Multiple freshmen are in the two-deep for the Tigers given the injuries.
With Clemson outside of the national rankings and 0-1 in the ACC, the Tigers need to win out and have help elsewhere to get back to the ACC Championship Game.
Clemson kept Klubnik upright in Saturday’s loss to at Georgia Tech, but struggled a bit with protection the first two weeks and the offensive line has been worse in run-block situations. Klubnik was chased out of the pocket several times against LSU, including the decisive fourth down play late on a blitz from Harold Perkins Jr. and tossed an interception — that was returned for a touchdown — in the face of pressure vs. Troy.
According to PFF’s individual game grades, Clemson’s offensive line had its worst showing against LSU in pass protection at 54.3 and struggled with a 53.8 run block grade against Georgia Tech. For the season, averages are 63.1 in pass pro and 54.6 in rushing situations.
“Obviously incredibly disappointed for our team and these kids. We’ve got great kids,” Swinney said. “They work their tail off and they care, and I hurt for our fans, too, because they care. It’s not the start that we wanted, but we’ve got to stay together and we’ve got to fight our way out.
“One play at a time, one game at a time. That’s all we can do. We can’t do anything about what has happened. All we can do is keep working and try to see if we can find a way to make a couple more plays. Continue to do some of the good things that we’re doing (right).”
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