EJ Manuel claims Clemson 'needs some good things to happen to them' amid struggles

No one expected Clemson to start the season 1-3, let alone 0-2 to start conference play. It seems that just about everything has gone wrong for the Tigers down the stretch.

EJ Manuel joined the College GameDay podcast to discuss Clemson’s early woes. He provided context to the slow start while keeping a positive outlook on the Tigers’ season.

“I think Clemson just needs some good things to happen to them,” Manuel told Rece Davis. “I think they ran into a tough LSU defense. Obviously, we’ve seen LSU’s offense struggle a little bit, but they’re still going to be in the hunt. We’ve seen them run into a Georgia Tech team … I think they’ve just run into some some tough matchups and teams that were really good in situations.

“When you play good teams, that’s how you can win, or that’s how you can lose if you don’t handle those situations. That’s how to fix them.”

Manuel pointed toward the Tigers’ offensive line as a group that needs to improve in the coming weeks. Quarterback Cade Klubnik has been rushed often, causing him issues when going through his progressions, leading the Clemson QB to be completing 60.1% of his passing attempts through five weeks. He’s only been sacked four times this season, but has thrown just as many interceptions.

“Some of the tapes I’ve (watched) in the past few weeks, there’s free runners,” Manuel said. “There’s guys who are coming into the backfield and Cade is trying to go through one, two and three for his progressions. And that’s hard to do when you start feeling like you’re a bit exposed to the defense. So I would say, maybe fix the offense line and also run the football too.

“I know Adam Randall was supposed to be this running back, and he’s had 100 yard game maybe once or twice this season, but that’s not his natural position. I think he’s still also learning how to kind of fill blocks and and kind of feed into that as well. So run the football, protect the passer for Clemson.”

There’s still time for Clemson to turn its season around, the Tigers would finish 9-3 if they won out — the same record they finished the regular season with one year ago. Though, things would have to be turned around immediately.

That’s not impossible. They take on a 2-2 North Carolina team and a 1-3 Boston College squad over the next two weeks. Both are major opportunities to get wins back in the left-hand column.