It was a wild weekend in college football with many playoff-contending teams taking losses. Seven top-20-ranked teams lost in week 13. Five of those losses were upsets, four of which were to unranked teams. This opens the path to the College Football Playoffs for the 17th-ranked Tigers after their 51-14 win over The Citadel.
That sets up a thrilling matchup for next week between heated in-state rivals Clemson and South Carolina. Both programs are ranked in the top 20 and could be in the top 15 after the events that took place. This means the Tigers and Gamecocks will compete for a potential at-large bid into the playoffs. If Clemson wants to make it to the CFP and succeed in the postseason, some things will need to be cleaned up.
(Almost) Dominant Win
On the scoreboard, the Tigers dominated their game against the Citadel. Clemson won by six scores, but the performance was not as impressive as it seemed. The Tigers gave up 288 rushing yards in the game. The Clemson defense struggled with The Citadel’s option run game giving up multiple runs for 10+ yard gains.
The Bulldogs had four players rush for over 50 yards in the game. Garrison Johnson was the only one with a rushing touchdown to go with his 65 yards. Johnny Crawford III had the most rushing yards for the Bulldogs with 70 on his seven carries. Corey Ibrahim had 58 yards rushing. That was just four more yards than quarterback Johnathan Bennet who had 54 yards rushing. Bennet did not have as good of a day throwing the ball completing just two passes out of 10 attempts for 90 yards one touchdown and an interception.
The Clemson defense has had problems against the run quite a bit this season. Outside run plays have especially hurt the Tigers’ defense. Much of this has to do with poor run fits, more specifically on the edge. Good option-run teams expose undisciplined run fits. This is because stopping comes down to players knowing where to be and who they take in the option. Many Clemson defenders looked lost on where their run fit was and whether to take the quarterback or the pitchman in the option. This opened up run lanes for the Bulldogs.
Forcing turnovers helped the Tigers’ defense in the end. Payton Page had a pick-six and Avieon Terrell got an interception the offense capitalized on. The offense was very efficient with 302 rushing yards and 3 passing touchdowns by Cade Klubnik. Jay Haynes had a great day running the ball with 118 yards and two touchdowns on just five carries. It was not as dominant of a victory as Dabo Swinney and his team hoped for, but they did take care of business for the week.
ACC Race Update
As the last week of the regular season approaches the ACC Championship race has come down to just one game next weekend. Miami vs Syracuse at 3:30 on Saturday will be the game that determines who goes to Charlotte. SMU has already punched its ticket to the ACC Championship in its first year as a member of the conference. The Mustangs secured their spot with a 33-7 win over Virginia on the road.
Miami also won its game this weekend against Wake Forest 42-14. The Hurricanes were in a close game with the Demon Deacons until scoring 22 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. This means Miami is 6-1 in the ACC keeping the second-place tie with Clemson. If the Canes beat Syracuse next week, they’ll finish 7-1 in the ACC same as the Tigers. The win against Louisville will decide the tiebreaker for Miami and send the Canes to Charlotte.
If Miami loses to the Orange next week though, that’ll be two conference losses. That would knock the Hurricanes out of the ACC Championship game, and potentially playoff contention as well. Syracuse is a good team and is capable of pulling off the upset. Miami has everything on the line though and is hoping to carry the momentum from the fourth quarter against Wake Forest into Syracuse, NY.
CFP Race Update
The race to the College Football Playoff is wild. Five big upsets and other losses have the road set up for Clemson to be able to earn an at-large bid. Many of the Playoff Contenders ahead of Clemson suffered major upsets. Florida upset ninth-ranked Ole Miss. Sixteenth-ranked Colorado lost to Kansas on the road as well. Seventh-ranked Alabama did not look good in Norman against Oklahoma losing 24-3. It took until fourth overtime, but Auburn knocked off 15th-ranked Texas A&M.
Outside of the upsets fifth-ranked Indiana’s loss to second-ranked Ohio State could even help the Tigers. The Buckeyes handled the Hoosiers 38-15. The teams that took losses were all teams that already had their playoff chances up in the air. Now those teams have opened up a path for teams like Clemson to take those at-large spots. The Tigers have a chance next week to put themselves back in reach of their national championship goals again.
How Can Clemson Make a Run?
For Clemson to make a postseason run first they must beat South Carolina. It is a main objective every season for the Tigers to get a win over the Gamecocks, but this year it means more. The Palmetto Bowl is set up to be a playoff game itself. The winner has a great chance to earn an 11th or 12th seed in the playoffs.
To do that though, Clemson has to have its offensive line ready and run defense more disciplined. The run defense for the Tigers needs to be more consistent than it has been to this point in the season. Linebackers and defensive backs need to be more aggressive in getting downhill and getting off of blocks. There are too many times guys are running into blockers without shedding or putting themselves out of position trying to completely avoid them. Defenders must get tough, take on, and shed blocks to get in their run fit.
On the other side of the ball, the offensive line has to be ready for one of the toughest challenges of the season. South Carolina has one of the best defensive line groups in the country. Clemson has had struggles on the offensive front. Injuries have caused the offensive line to be shuffled around more than once. The staff seems to have found a group they trust over the last two weeks. That will be put to the test against the Gamecocks. If the run defense and offensive line play become more consistent, the Tigers can have a chance to make a postseason run.
