Clemson won the 2024 ACC Championship in a hard-fought game against SMU. It took a 56-yard walk-off field goal by freshman kicker Nolan Hauser to give the Tigers the 34-31 win. This was after the Mustangs came back and tied the game with 20 seconds left after being down 17 points going into the fourth quarter.
Ultimately, the Tigers did enough to win their eighth ACC Championship in 10 years. This will send Clemson to the college football playoffs for the seventh time, first since 2020. Now it is a new season for Dabo Swinney’s squad. They will have to build off of the conference championship game performance to make a run in playoffs.
Klubnik Carries Offense
We have talked about how Cade Klubnik is the key to the Tigers successfully reaching the postseason. Against SMU, he proved he is up to the challenge. It was a cold night in Charlotte for the ACC Championship game and the Tigers could not get the run game going consistently. Phil Mafah has been banged up the last few weeks and still does not look like himself. Backup running back Jay Haynes was injured after just five carries on the day. With all of this, the Tigers were only able to muster up 64 yards rushing.
Klubnik had 21 of those 64 rushing yards. He also had 262 passing yards and four passing touchdowns on the night. His four touchdown passes tied the ACC Championship game record. Three of those four touchdown passes came in the first quarter. That set the record for most passing touchdowns in a quarter for the ACC Championship game. He was not perfect, but Klubnik did not turn the ball over and made the plays he needed to when he needed to.
The best example of this was Klubnik’s final throw. It was a perfectly timed and placed pass to Antonio Williams with less than 10 seconds left in the game. That put the Tigers in position to kick the game-winning field goal. This performance made Klubnik a two-time ACC Championship Game MVP. He is just the third player to earn the honor. Klubnik is going to have to do more of this if the Tigers want to make a run.
Defense Does Enough
The defense has been the inconsistent unit for the Tigers this season which is unusual. The up-and-down performances did not stop in the conference championship game either. The Tigers played well in the first half holding the Mustangs to just seven points going into halftime. The defense could not hold up to finish the game though.
Undisciplined fits almost cost the Tigers a playoff spot once again. The Mustangs had 458 total yards of offense, 154 of them came in the run game. Brashard Smith had 113 yards rushing on his 24 carries. Explosive runs helped SMU move the ball and start to build the comeback. Combine that with poor containment by the Clemson pass rush allowing Kevin Jennings to throw for 304 yards and three touchdowns, the Tigers barely escaped with the ACC Title.
Clemson has loads of talent on defense. They give up explosives though because they play undisciplined. It is as if guys just don’t know where they should be in key moments. The teams the Tigers will see in the playoffs are too good to beat without fixing the run defense.
Tigers Keep Kicking
Clemson had one last shot to earn its bid into the CFP. The Tigers made sure to make that shot count. We said in the preview to the game the Tigers will have to bring the most energy we’ve seen from them this year. We also said they will need to play their best game of the season. Swinney made sure his team did both of those things and it showed on the scoreboard.
Now Clemson is in, but making a run is a whole new task. If the Tigers want to take it the distance, they have to find a way to clean some things up, especially on defense. Clemson has the talent to match up with anyone who makes the 12-team bracket. It is going to take more than that to win though. More consistency is going to be needed. As well as taking pride in stopping the run. That is what it will take for the Tigers to take the next step and get back to the National Championship.
