Louisville huge test for Clemson
The mood outside the visitors locker room at Bobby Dodd Stadium in midtown Atlanta was ebullient, the way it hadn’t been after a Clemson game since New Year’s Eve in South Florida.
The Tigers had just beaten Georgia Tech 26- 7 on Sept. 22, the program’s first win in that venue since 2003. For that reason, as well as a stifling performance on defense and some signs that their offense was breaking out of a mysterious malaise, coach Dabo Swinney was only interested in focusing on positives and not lingering questions about whether No. 3 Clemson was not performing as well as expected.
“Clemson folks know how hard it is to win down here,” Swinney said.
But as Swinney’s team enters Saturday’s showdown against No. 4 Louisville, there’s an air of suspense about whether Clemson is capable of the same offensive potency it displayed at the end of last season when it destroyed Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff semifinals and then nearly won the national championship, falling to Alabama 45- 40.
Putting aside Clemson’s 59- 0 win vs. overmatched South Carolina State on Sept. 17, the Tigers have not been the weekly fireworks show many expected with nine returning starters, including quarterback DeshaunWatson.
Those performances, including a narrow 19- 13 win at Auburn in the season opener, have translated to doubts about whether Clemson is primed for another Playoff run.
One example is Las Vegas oddsmakers making Louisville a slight favorite for Saturday, a notion that would have been unthinkable in the preseason.
“There’s nothing ( wrong) that’s not correctable,” Swinney insisted. “Nothing major at all.”
It’s possible Clemson is the victim of unrealistic expectations.
The final memory of Watson last season was slicing up Alabama for 405 passing yards and 73 rushing yards in the title game.
With so much returning talent around him, including running back Wayne Gallman and the deepest group of receivers in the country, the narrative around Clemson was that its offense would produce big numbers and its defense, which lost eight starters, might be a question mark.
Instead, the defense has been terrific — it’s ranked third nationally overall ( 218.5 yards per game) and fourth in points allowed ( 11.0 per game) — while the offense has yet to reach its potential.
Even in the Georgia Tech game, as Clemson rolled up 442 yards, there were enough mistakes and missed opportunities to prevent a complete blowout.
Though Swinney attributed much of it to Georgia Tech’s ball- control offense in the third quarter and playing conservatively with the lead in the fourth, Clemson didn’t look like it was in midseason form in the first half, either, leaving points on the board via amissed field goal, a red- zone interception and some offensive line breakdowns.
If not for Clemson’s defense, it could have been another scary trip to Atlanta.
“I think we have a lot of room to improve,” co- offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said. “We have a lot of things we have to clean up, but we get to work every day.”
Elliott doesn’t think the issues are systemic, but Clemson does not have much more time to recapture its 2015 dominance. Louisville has played as well as any team in the country, and Clemson must win to stay in control of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Atlantic Division.
WhileWatson looked better last week after a slow start to the season, Clemson needs to show it can be as effective running the ball as it was last season.
The good news: Clemson knows it can play better.
“We’re definitely getting closer,” tight end Jordan Leggett said. “Having two big away games under our belt, I feel like we’re going to start rolling.”