Clemson takes foes’ best shots

Imperfect Tigers are right where they want to be

RALEIGH, N.C. – Like a conspiracy theorist ranting about chemtrails and inside jobs, North Carolina State coach Dave Doeren left Carter-Finley Stadium talking about laptops. He saw one on Clemson’s sideline. There must have been an unfair advantage. It turns out the laptop belonged to a student assistant on its social media team, Clemson explained postgame.

Clemson does this, particularly this season. The Tigers seem gettable. Beatable, even, and not in an only-if-we’re-perfect sort of way. And when things don’t go to plan — as Auburn, Louisville, the Wolfpack and everyone but Syracuse can attest — it gets frustrating. It doesn’t always get tinfoil-hat frustrating, but frustrating nonetheless.

N.C. State swung a haymaker in the first half, and the Wolfpack and Clemson knew it. The Tigers went to the locker room down four points but feeling in control. Across the sideline, the Wolfpack emptied their barrels but had failed to take advantage. Only one team could have felt confident, and it wasn’t the team ahead on the scoreboard.

Dabo Swinney told his team this much at halftime. We took their best shot, he said, and we’re still standing. So Clemson didn’t flinch, not after Kelly Bryant’s horrible interception on the game’s first series, N.C. State’s ensuing touchdown and not after the Wolfpack threatened to put the Tigers in an early hole. In the locker room at halftime, the Tigers just nodded their heads. They’d been here before.

This fact, more than the eventual 3831 win, tells the tale of Clemson. This team is not better than last year’s version; it’s very easy to say the Tigers are worse, and nearly as easy to make that case. The Tigers have flaws. There are issues. There are weaknesses. Compared to last season’s near-flawless run, these Tigers are mundane.

“We got done what we came up here to do, and that was just somehow find a way to win, to stay on track,” Swinney said. “No chance to win the division if we didn’t win up here, so we got that done.”

But Clemson is experienced, aware of what it takes to not just survive a 60minute assault from a divisional opponent but the four months it takes to go from the preseason through the postseason. As much if not more so than any other contender in the country — maybe only Alabama can say the same — Clemson is ready for November and beyond, because of the fact the Tigers have been there before.

That fact will lead the Tigers to another Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division title, to the doorstep of another conference title, to the front of the line for another College Football Playoff berth. Along with a young roster quietly developing confidence, it also makes Clemson dangerous.

It might have taken a loss, by a field goal last month to Syracuse, to reveal this fact. This specific team hadn’t tasted adversity after being praised all offseason, and it’s only natural to believe you’re invincible if you hear it enough. But the Tigers aren’t invincible, as Syracuse proved. That game showed weak links in the chain. The Wolfpack didn’t unveil new soft spots — though N.C. State is absolutely one of the best teams in the ACC — but it did exploit them, thanks to quarterback Ryan Finley and a talented, senior-heavy offense.

“I like where we are. I think we’ve developed some good depth,” Swinney said. “But we’re still a work in progress.’’

There are issues — even Swinney and his coaches admit there are some issues, on offense and defense, and that this team needs to be buttoned up before tackling another elite opponent in early January.

It’s simultaneously true that the transition from Deshaun Watson to a new starter, Kelly Bryant, has been both extremely painful and a pleasant surprise. Bryant is not Watson, particularly as a downfield passer, and less consistent on the intermediate throws that define the Tigers’ passing. But he’s an appropriate stand-in for the entire team: Bryant does what it takes, if not always much more.

The defense has individual superstars, especially up front from end to end, but also trouble spots. One such area is the secondary, which admittedly is struggling with injuries — hence the decision to use wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud at cornerback — but was stretched to its breaking point by Finley, who completed his first 15 attempts and accounted for 331 yards overall to solidify his status as one of the underrated prospects in this year’s draft class.

Yet the Tigers persevered — fittingly, Swinney’s word of the week. The Tigers coaching staff knew N.C. State could succeed on both sides of the ball, and the Wolfpack did, by and large. They were aware it would take four quarters, needing only to point to last season’s escape of a victory to prove the Wolfpack’s credentials. And even then, N.C. State’s best shot wasn’t enough to do more than wobble Clemson, and even that wobbling was only temporarily.

“The positive is, the senior leadership, the juniors we’ve had the last couple years, they know what it takes to be a championship team,” co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said. “And in order to be a championship team you’ve got to respond to adversity.”

The Clemson mantra: survive and advance. The Tigers are surviving, and the Tigers are slowly advancing toward a third Playoff trip in three years.

ROB KINNAN/USA TODAY SPORTS Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant dives for a touchdown during the first half against North Carolina State at Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday.