Here are the contributing causes in order of severity:
1. Running back missed his assignment 2. Kicker missed a potentially game winning FG 3. QB made a dumb decision although, he did play much better overall.
Also, we got to see a glimpse of the future whenever Dabo emptied the bench and played guys who aren't on the depth chart. Those guys are red shirting and will play for us in the future. As well as guys who are expected to be on campus in January. The Future is still very bright for Clemson. Whenever they expand the playoff to 12 teams, it will offset the advantages of NIL and the portal. Especially, if Clemson maintains its philosophy of recruiting players and actually developing them to be champions. Anyone can exploit the portal and grab 5* players who didn't want to wait their turn to play. However, it takes a real coach to develop a team to be a championship caliber team. Sometimes that requires a few seasons of rebuilding through development. However, once that moment arrives there is usually a 5-year run of excellence. This team is still young, and Dabo has vision beyond this season. He is cultivating and grooming the program to have another run. The "Nay Sayer" was griping about the same thing during the run between 2011-2014. I'm not at all worried about the condition of this program. Garret Riley will remain onboard, Wes Goodwin will get better as time goes, and so will the recruiting and the players.
THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!! LESS IS MORE IN THE LONG RUN! GO TIGERS!
Our country won't go on forever, if we stay soft as we are now. There won't be any America because some foreign soldiery will invade us and take our women and breed a hardier race.
~Chesty Puller
Lt.General United States Marine Corps