Where do we go from here? To Blacksburg, of course

Swinney and the coaches have plenty of reasons to be angry this week.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Nov 05 08:00:02 GMT-05:00 2024

A trip to Blacksburg on Saturday might tell us a lot.

There’s no doubt that Clemson stunk it up Saturday in the loss to Louisville. Wes Goodwin and the defense have borne much of the blame, and when you give up 7.8 yards per carry, that will happen. But as we’ve noted, the offense holds the same amount of blame, as does special teams and all of the coaches.

When a head coach comes out and says the team wasn’t prepared – after an open date, no less – you have to wonder why.

I’ve seen the gamut across all social media platforms, but some on message boards and websites think that this one game is program-defining. Clemson will win just one more game. South Carolina will win in Death Valley. This is who and what Clemson is. It’s once again time to bury the Tigers and move on. All of that may be true.

That’s why I wanted to know what happened in the facility on Monday. Practice was spirited, and it appears the mood was good. It just proves that players and coaches recover quicker than fans because they had to start work on Virginia Tech Sunday.

Let me start here - there are still issues in the football program that Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has to fix. Some of those issues were there for all to see Saturday night. Defensive talent and depth - especially at defensive end - are not good in a lot of spots. I think there are still staff changes that need to be made, changes made to recruiting and how players are offered, and changes made to how Clemson operates within a NIL framework, but those are all topics for another day.

Clemson stunk it up Saturday. Worst game I’ve seen in over a decade. How did it happen? Why were the players so unprepared? Why were the coaches looking lost? I don’t know. As someone within the program told me this morning, it was just “weird.” But some guys stayed in the facility all night looking at film, trying to find answers. Some went home but were back early Sunday. Players were back early Sunday.

And if this season has shown us anything, it’s that there are now seasons within a season. NC State was written off, now 5-4. Colorado was written off, now making waves. Notre Dame suffered that awful loss to Northern Illinois and were written off, and now they are playing well. Georgia has looked good at times (Texas) and awful at times (several times) and their QB is a turnover machine. Texas looked invincible till they didn’t and were slapped by Georgia. Tennessee looks good one week and bad the next. Florida was down to its third-string quarterback and had a chance to beat...checks notes... Georgia.

The way teams are constructed currently adds to college football's unpredictability. Teams look great one week and bad the next, and Clemson was caught in that unpredictable wash Saturday.

Someone will say, “Yes! But Clemson has played two good teams and gotten smacked both times!” I agree. Not a good look. And they might not play anyone with Louisville’s offensive talent for the rest of the year. And this Clemson team is still more talented than anyone they play, including a certain rival that wanted to fire its coach five weeks ago (season within a season).

Clemson’s offense made waves against bad defenses, and played a defense with a pulse Saturday and looked lost. Can the offense recover against Virginia Tech, Pitt, and South Carolina defenses that also have a pulse? Can the defense recover and close the large holes that were open for the Louisville running backs?

I am anxious to see what happens in Blacksburg on Saturday. Someone has mentioned that maybe Tyler from Spartanburg needs to make a call, but I’ve said several times that Tyler wasn’t the spark last season. He merely got in the way after Swinney erupted on the way home from the loss at NC State. Will this team see another spark? I don’t know, but that’s why they play the game.

So all of that was said to say this. I’ve watched too much college football, over the years and over the last few decades, to believe that what we saw Saturday is the new norm for Clemson. Every time the Tigers have been counted out, including last year when a 4-4 team limped home from Raleigh, the program responds.

This also says that Clemson’s program isn’t quite on the footing it once was, and like I’ve said, there are still changes that need to be made. But we have another week to see what we get, and it will be in a beautiful setting against an opponent that is watching last week’s game film and salivating.

“Where do we go from here?” is something that writers and pundits and fans ask every season, and we’ve asked before about Clemson. The answer this week is simple, we go to Blacksburg and see what happens.