Mafah says Clemson will respond by being locked in against Hokies

Mafah expects the Tigers to bounce back.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Wed Nov 06 08:00:01 GMT-05:00 2024

CLEMSON - Graduate running back Phil Mafah is the heart of Clemson’s offense this season. Despite his performance with 171 rushing yards and two touchdowns, the Tigers lost 33-21 to Louisville this past Saturday, who is now ranked No. 22 in the country, as they were simply outplayed on both sides of the ball.

“My body was pretty fatigued after. But, I didn’t even notice it was 98 (snaps) until (Monday) actually when they talked about it in a meeting,” Mafah said. “But, just willing to do whatever it takes to get out there and play, be a competitor. I love to play the game. So, (it) didn’t really cross my mind (at) the time that it [98 snaps] happened.”

Clemson had two bye weeks this season. After their first one, they came out just as hot as before the open date, putting up 59 points on NC State to give them their first conference win of the season. Coming off their second bye week, it was the exact opposite. Their 21 points was the least number of points scored by the Tigers since the season opening loss to Georgia. In a competitive ACC, getting a conference loss and their second overall loss was also incredibly detrimental to their playoff chances.

Mafah said this loss came down to a lack of execution, especially in the red zone.

“We had two weeks to prepare. It just goes down to Coach Swinney talked about preparation, what are you actually doing between the time we take to prepare for the game and the actual game … (talked) about how we got to take advantage of the time and he always talks about how we can’t confuse activity with accomplishment. We got to go out there and execute no matter how much preparation we put out in there. Football’s a game of execution and just got to go out there and do you job,” Mafah said. “The plays were there, but we just had to finish some drives. We got to finish on field goal, just make things like that. Just driving down the field, not being able to come away with points, that’s not our goal. We want to be able to finish in the red zone, finish somehow with points. So, that just got away from us Saturday.”

There is still a chance for the Tigers to make the CFP. However, the most realistic route is to win the ACC Championship, which would guarantee them a spot. In order to make the playoff now, Clemson needs either No. 4 Miami or No. 13 SMU to lose two of their final three games. All of those games are conference games for those two teams.

This also requires No. 23 Clemson to at least win out in ACC play. Their final four games are against Virginia Tech (ACC), No. 18 Pittsburgh (ACC), The Citadel and South Carolina (non-conference). The Hokies, who Clemson faces this coming Saturday (3:30 p.m. / ESPN), have been incredibly competitive all season. In fact, every game they have lost has been a one-possession game to the finish. The Tigers have not played in a one-possession game so far this season. How Clemson performs in this game will show how they are able to respond after their dismal loss to the Cardinals.

Mafah believes the team will be locked in going into their game against Virginia Tech as they continue to learn from their mistakes.

“I think we’re going to respond just by focusing (on) being locked in … Focusing on no taking the ball away, no turnovers and getting the ball for the defense. So, we just got to lock in (and) be highly detailed and just take practice work to the game. We got to focus in practice and bring that urgency like it’s game day,” Mafah said. “I’ve seen us just grow and just learn from our mistakes, especially (Monday), came all together, talked to Coach Swinney and went over our mistakes and that’s all we can do. So, we got to just continue to learn from last week and use it as a teacher to prepare for Virginia Tech this week.”