Quick Thoughts on loss to Duke: Tigers once again fail to finish, offense looks the same

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Sep 04 23:54:14 GMT-04:00 2023

DURHAM, NC – Clemson’s football team had 248 long days to think about the losses to South Carolina and Tennessee at the end of last season. Long winter months, windy spring days, and brutal heat in August camp to think about righting the wrongs of 2022.

And then went out and got physically whipped. By Duke. A Duke program that hadn’t beaten a top-10 team in 28 straight matchups. The last time it happened was in September 1989, when Duke beat then-No. 7 Clemson. The coach at Duke was Steve Spurrier, who was honored on the field at Monday night’s game.

But let’s be honest, Clemson isn’t a top-ten team. Not even close. And no matter what happens over the next few weeks, Florida St. might walk into Death Valley in a few weeks as a double-digit favorite. Let that sink in for a second.

I wrote on Monday that we aren’t allowed to watch scrimmages and just a few periods of practice. And that’s par for the course for many schools across the country – the media just isn’t allowed the access it used to have. So we had to rely on what the coaches and players told us, along with the tidbits we could glean from those that were allowed to watch.

We heard the offensive line was better. We heard that Garrett Riley’s offense was tossing the ball all over, getting the ball to playmakers in space and that the running backs were finding huge lanes. The wide receivers were healthy. Jake Briningstool was going to be a weapon at tight end.

We heard the defense was elite. Better in the secondary. Better up front.

What did we see? An offense that looked eerily similar to what we saw in 2022. Way too many passes to the sideline. Not enough in the middle of the field. Briningstool had one catch for 10 yards. Wide receivers failed to get separation. Quarterback Cade Klubnik came out off-target and never got into a rhythm. The offensive line rotated people in and out in the heat and struggled.

But it was the proliferation of horizontal passes and nothing vertical that was baffling.

And then when the offense found something that worked, either special teams blew it or the offense itself self-destructed. Two missed field goals. And two fumbles in the red zone. And Klubnik sliding too early on a fourth-down play. Mistake followed mistake followed mistake.

The game reminded me a lot of the Tennessee game. The Tigers finished the night ahead in many statistical categories, but on the short end of the scoreboard after failing to finish drives.

But it wasn’t all on the offense or special teams. The defense lacked intensity (where is a James Skalski or Ben Boulware when you need him) and the Blue Devils ran through way too many arm tackles and caught Clemson defenders in bad angles.

Is the team poorly coached? Not the developmental program it once was? Missing out on recruiting? Everyone will have questions and different people will have different answers. The good news is that it’s one game, and there are at least 11 more to go. The defense, I thought, played well through three quarters. Three times Clemson had the chance to take the lead and simply fumbled it away.

And the running game was a bright spot and in hindsight, they should have stayed with it a little more.

But at the end of the day, you can’t go 1-for-4 in the red zone and expect to win. The Tigers were 2-for-4 against Tennessee in the red zone and drove inside the Volunteer 35 nine different times and failed to finish drives.

I know that’s a lot and I’ll finish with this. The defense played well enough through three quarters to win, but zero sacks from this group is a telling stat. But this one, once again, will be laid at the feet of the offense and special teams.