As much as the loss hurt Saturday Clemson fans, your season is still alive. It is important to stay positive at this point in the year, especially after the 17-14 loss Saturday at the hands of South Carolina.
As painful as it is, let’s review what went wrong and what maybe went right on Saturday. My three offensive keys for the Tigers were to run for 150 yards, commit no more than two turnovers, and let Cade be Cade.
Well, the Tigers ran for 139 yards on Saturday. That is a solid number on 32 carries, but nothing that pops off the page. QB Cade Klubnik ran for 62 yards and two touchdowns while throwing for 280 yards. I do feel like Garrett Riley really allowed let Cade be Cade on Saturday, but at times the Tigers could not finish drives.
The biggest issue was the two turnovers. The one everyone is talking about is the Demetrius Knight game-sealing interception. In my opinion, Cade can take some blame for throwing behind tight end Jake Briningstool, but also it was just a great play from Knight that Tiger fans should tip their hats to.
The other turnover was the “fumble” by Phil Mafah. Fumble is put in quotations because many Clemson fans thought the officials got this call wrong. However, I hate to upset you even more Tiger faithful, but the officials were 100% correct. Mafah never had full possession, down or not, and South Carolina clearly recovered it.
So, the Tigers offense was not at its best, but they had a lead at 14-10 late. Even after a late South Carolina score, Clemson had a chance, at the very least, to tie the game with a field goal to send it to overtime. Was the Clemson defense the issue? After all, they only gave up 17 points.
My three keys for the Clemson defense were to keep Sellers in the pocket, take away Joshua Simon, and Clemson linebackers better come to play. Obviously, the Tigers defense did not keep Sellers in the pocket. The redshirt freshman quarterback had a generational day on the ground, rushing 166 yards and both of South Carolina touchdowns.
Clemson did a great job of taking away Joshua Simon, as he only had three catches for 17 yards. The Clemson linebackers also played extremely well, with Sammy Brown leading the charge with nine tackles and 1.5 tackle for a loss. Barrett Carter added seven tackles, and Wade Woodaz had 1.5 tackle for a loss. The Clemson linebackers played one of their best games of the year.
However, LaNorris Sellers was just too much. His outstanding play combined with the two untimely turnovers on offense are what cost the Tigers the game. South Carolina played one of their few subpar games in quite a while, but LaNorris Sellers made up for it all with perhaps his best individual performance of 2024.
Obviously this loss hurt and puts a stain on the 2024 season for the Tigers. However, everything you want is still in front of you. With Miami’s loss against Syracuse on Saturday, the Tigers will play SMU in the ACC Championship Game this Saturday in Charlotte.
There is no way for Clemson to make it into the playoffs unless they beat SMU. The Tigers finally benefit from being in the ACC and don’t have their season completely ruined by a South Carolina loss. Imagine that. I guess that is 2024 College Football.
