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And in the blink of an eye, the 2023 College Football Playoff is almost over. Most of the teams — including Clemson and South Carolina — have no conference championship hopes, and only a bowl game can keep the season alive for a few more weeks.
Unlike the Roosters, the Tigers are guaranteed a bowl berth with their seven wins, but that didn’t seem like a foregone conclusion four weeks ago.
Clemson has two losses, most recently to N.C. State and went 4-4 with a scary four left to play, but something changed with the team over the next week. Suddenly, the tight end offense that had been so shaky all season turned into a massive power run and pounding down the field. This was the biggest change.
If you ask Dabo Swinney if he could come back and be traded before the season and get the right answer, it would take the pressure off Cade Klubnik. In the first weeks, there was a feeling that the responsibility for the crime and success fell on the knees of Klubnikand and he drowned. He wasn’t afraid of the spotlight, he just didn’t know where the brakes were and tried to be perfect every game instead of just going with the flow. In Clemsonand#039’s first eight games, Klubnik averaged 36.75 attempts per game. In the last three, it fell to 30.6. But it’s not because Clemsonand took the ball away from Klubnikand, they didn’t just use him as a catalyst on offense, they turned to Phil Mafah and Will. Shipley is the backbone of the unit. Phil Mafah had 88 touches in Clemsonand#039’s first eight games. Heand touched it 81 times over Clemson’s final three.
Basic things like staying on top also played a big role. N.C. Against State, Clemson gained 163 yards on 35 first downs, or 4.65 yards per play. Only problem, one of those plays was a 41 yard run by Mafah and two of those were interceptions. Take away the run of Mafahand#039; and Clemson averaged just 3.5 yards per play on first down, consistently behind the sticks.
Against Notre Dame, the Tigers gained 209 yards on 31 first downs with no defensive penalties, an average of 6.7 yards per first down. To be fair, Mafah also ran for 41 yards in that game, but outside of that game, the Tigers averaged 5.6 yards per carry.
It’s an easy recipe for Clemson in recent weeks; don’t turn the ball over, run the football and don’t go behind the sticks. Simple and effective football. If they play like this against South Carolina (Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, SECN), they could win by double digits and send the Gamecocks home for the season.
