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QUESTION: Is there cause for concern at Clemson?
Early on Saturday, the Texas A&M Aggies barely defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Aggies won, but the game felt like a loss, because no one in their right mind would say that A&M has a snowball’s chance in hell of beating Georgia, LSU or Alabama, all coming up on the schedule.
Texas A&M is headed for a 7-5 season at best. Jimbo Fisher wasn’t hired to go 7-5, and Kellen Mond looks like a quarterback who is not about to improve… partly because he has never previously shown that he can maintain a high level of form through a full season.
Clemson is fortunate that it plays in a conference without LSU, Georgia and Alabama. If the Tigers had to play all three teams this year, they would be in trouble.
We don’t live in that world, though.
Look: Clemson plays one really weird — and bad — game per season. Last year it was Syracuse. The year before it was also Syracuse. 2016 was Pitt. 2015 was Louisville.
History tells us that when Clemson plays a bad game in its dynastic period, Dabo Swinney and the rest of the staff fix the problems.
That will be my answer here. Clemson merits trust — and the benefit of the doubt.
Yet, let’s not pretend this season has gone just as everyone expected; it hasn’t.
Clemson’s offensive line looked legitimately bad against North Carolina.
Trevor Lawrence won’t merely fail to win the Heisman Trophy this year; he won’t even be invited to New York unless he completely catches fire in October and stays hot through early December.
Tua. Hurts. Burrow. Justin Fields. Those four quarterbacks are all lighting it up. There is no place for Lawrence at the table.
Travis Etienne is special. Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross are special. The Tigers have the skill people to make this offense rock and roll, but quarterback and O-line have to catch up and join the party.
I think this will happen… but if Clemson continues to fail to hit the mark after this North Carolina wake-up call, I would be lying to you if I said that wouldn’t alarm me at all.
Dabo and his offensive staff are likely to get this thing fixed… but Clemson definitely faces more questions than most people expected at the end of September.
We will soon see if the Tigers were bored and trying to coast by on their talent… or if there is a deeper and more lasting structural problem here.
I would bet on the former, but the latter can’t yet be ruled out.
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