It wasn’t pretty, but Clemson showed us on Saturday that they may not be a top tier team, but they are still a very gritty and tough bunch.
The 24-14 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday does not prove that they are back or go as far to show how far they have fallen. It does shows us that Dabo Swinney is still very much so in touch with this team and has not lost the locker room. It also shows us how talented this team still is. I know they beat a very average Virginia Tech team, but there were still some impressive performances.
Cade Klubnik did not play his best game, but he responded so well in the second half. He threw for 211 yards and three touchdowns, two of which came in the second half. Phil Mafahwas the workhorse for the Clemson offense totaling 128 rushing yards on 26 carries. These two really make for a dynamic backfield when everything is going right. Even when things were going wrong at times in this one, Klubnik & Mafah still battled to get points.
The most impressive thing I watched Saturday was the Clemson Defense. Again, I know you are screaming at me through your device saying, “IT WAS VIRGINIA TECH!” Yes, I know angry Clemson fans. However, the Tigers defense has not played this well all year. They responded to the call of the media and the fanbase.
The Tigers held the Hokies to only 40 rushing yards. The true freshman Sammy Brown was a big reason for this. He was everywhere, including 2.5 tackles for a loss. We asked the linebackers to step up, expecting the production to come from the veterans like Carter or Woodaz. However, the underclassmen of Brown and TJ Parker may be the guys that the Tigers need to lean on over the final three regular season games.
Again, this was not a pretty game, but it was one that the Tigers desperately needed. Quite frankly, there should not be a whole lot of takeaways from this one. The Tigers offense played a hair better than they did against Louisville, while playing against a worse defense. The Clemson defense played one of the better games of the year against a very subpar offense. Going into this game, if you were told these two things would be the case, I would have guessed a final score around what we got.
Things do not get easier this week for Clemson as they travelPitt. The Panthers have been able to play up or down depending on their opponents this season. However, if things can persist from what we have seen out of this Clemson defense this past week, I think things will look good for the Tigers.
Clemsoning is not back, but neither are the Tigers. However, the state of program is a lot better after a win than it would have been after back-to-back ACC losses. Dabo Swinney still has a lot of building to do over the next 9 months to get Clemson back to being a national powerhouse.
