What you need to know about Clemson

Earlier this week, Clemson Rivals writer Paul Strelow (@PaulStrelowTI on X) was kind enough to answer a few questions I sent him regarding this weekend’s matchup.

Here’s our conversation (they didn’t want anything from the BC side of things):

What’s been the biggest contributing factor to the rough start by Clemson standards?

“Well, that’s been the greatest source of debate over recent weeks understandably. Let’s boil it down to our two prevalent theories:

“A: If quarterback Cade Klubnik doesn’t regress to making the wrong reads and being too slow in his reads, then Clemson could if not should or would be 5-0.

“B. The recurrence of another 3-4 loss season, if not worse, reinforces Clemson’s slippage in a lot of areas — talent, toughness, coaching — resulting from Dabo Swinney’s unconventional ways.

“Frankly, these aren’t mutually exclusive. Everyone was expecting the Klubnik last witnessed in an impressive second-half comeback against Texas in the playoffs … or maybe even the next step in an upward trajectory. Instead he didn’t see a lot of what he was supposed to see on time, plus he sort of panicked and prematurely fled the pocket into pressure.

“Neither he nor the offense was the same thereafter until meeting an absolutely lifeless and low-grade UNC defense that afforded him the time to survey and space for a large margin of error. Klubnik makes some throws he’s expected to make, and there’s a strong case we aren’t talking about the second theory. But there’s a lot more to the latter than quarterback performance.

“This offense makes everything look hard, and that’s been it’s prevalent identity for large spells the last handful of years despite changes in coordinators, quarterback and the offensive line coach. Costly mistakes have been made by one and all, plus a veteran offensive line that promised to be the program’s best in years has been largely underwhelming as well. To that end, new defensive coordinator Tom Allen hasn’t been the immediate panacea for a unit lacking in tackling fundamentals as well as ferocity.

“Recruiting shortfalls, minimal transfer portal usage and several scrutinized staff hires thus have conspired to yield an inferior product to the Clemson brand standard, rinse and repeat.

“So, take your pick.”

Who should BC be most worried about from a skill position standpoint?

“Wesco is the one with the acceleration to either strike on a deep ball or explode with a catch-and-run. He hasn’t been perfect either, but this is evolving into the breakout season anticipated.

“Adam Randall probably would get the people’s vote as Clemson’s MVP to date. He’s playing running back this year after four seasons at receiver, and while he lacks some traditional traits and isn’t a home-run threat, he’s mustered several surprisingly long gains to go with a couple of important tough, short-yardage conversions. There’s been some fight to him, and that has stood out on a team in which that’s appeared in short supply.

“Antonio Williams and T.J. Moore are two other wideouts more than capable of each manufacturing a big day.

“Williams missed most of the first three games with injury. He’s always been Klubnik’s safety blanket and just the guy who makes them go, even if his stats aren’t gaudy.

“Moore’s effort and body language were among the biggest disappointments when his sophomore season didn’t start as expected. But he’s logged 13 catches for 210 yards and a score the last two games, so that needle has turned in the desired direction.

“Again, though, Klubnik and the offensive line holds the keys to unlocking all of these.”

What’s been Clemson’s biggest problem on defense?

 “The chief issue on defense is there are too many chief issues on defense.

“We could delve into an individual breakdown of the various strong vulnerabilities, but the bottom line has been that safety play has been unreliable. As a secondary overall, they don’t cover well enough in man. So there’s a soft shell back there that Allen has to protect schematically, which limits the pressures and what Clemson can do up front.

“They haven’t gotten star performance from their touted junior defensive linemen in end T.J. Parker and tackle Peter Woods. Certain defensive tackle combinations are prone to leaving large gaps in which to run. Then the linebackers continue experiencing problems with run fits.

“The sum hasn’t equaled what the individual parts should — largely because most of the individual parts haven’t played as well as predicted.

“Progress has been made in improving the overall run game numbers.”

What would BC need to do to take down the Tigers?

“As referenced, Clemson has that dubious knack for playing to the level of the competition. Boston College foremost needs to just stay in it and make the Tigers work for it.

“Challenge the offense to string together long drives, seeing if it can go that long without the debilitating mistakes. Steal a couple of turnovers and maybe a missed field goal along the way. Stay in situations allowing Dylan Lonergan to get the ball out early, and you can dink and dunk your way and kill this defense by a thousand cuts if you’re efficient passing while committing to your run game.

“One way or another, hang in there long enough for the pressure to mount on Clemson, and see if that brings out its timid side.”