No. 4 Clemson will look to stay unbeaten on the young season when the Tigers host South Carolina State in their home opener today at Memorial Stadium.
So what do the Tigers need to do to ensure themselves of a win? Here are three keys:
Show up
The I-AA division in college football was formed by the NCAA prior to the 1978 season. It’s since been renamed the Football Championship Subdivision. Whatever you want to call it, Clemson’s rarely been tested against the lower level of the sport. The Tigers are 36-0 all-time against FCS teams with their average margin of victory north of 35 points in those games.
In other words, it would be easy for the Tigers to overlook this game. Even if Clemson was looking ahead to Louisiana Tech next week or that all-important ACC opener at Wake Forest later this month, it’s hard to envision a scenario where the Tigers lose to a team they’re far superior to in terms of sheer talent and will be able to physically overwhelm.
But Clemson has things it needs to work on following that opening win over Georgia Tech, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, so taking care of business while simultaneously building some more confidence will be important for the Tigers.
Execute offensively
Clemson’s offense will likely be able to name its score whether it leans on the run or the pass. After netting just 3 yards on the ground against the Yellow Jackets, establishing the line of scrimmage and building cohesion and confidence among the offensive line and running backs heading into ACC play would be ideal.
The same could be said for the passing game, which is still looking for a go-to receiver or two to emerge. Quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei figures to get most of the first-team reps as the starter, but is this the week freshman Cade Klubnik, after that seamless late-game drive last week with the twos and threes, gets an opportunity with the ones?
Regardless of how the Tigers decide to go about moving the ball, the execution needs to be better, particularly up front and out wide. Uiagalelei and the running backs didn’t have a ton of room to operate in the running game last week, and there were too many accurate passes dropped by the receivers.
Two of Clemson’s touchdowns against Tech came after blocked punts set the offense up with extremely short fields. The Tigers likely won’t have much problem winning this game, but how they look doing it — at least the first- and second-teamers — is worth monitoring. A cleaner performance would go a long way in helping the Tigers’ offense feel better about itself heading into the tougher games on the schedule.
Don’t be sloppy
No offense to Clay Hendrix’s program, whose coaches and players put just as much time and effort into their preparation as anybody else, but the Paladins simply don’t come close to matching Clemson’s skill level. But sloppiness from superior teams is a surefire way to help inferior ones hang around, particularly turnovers.
Granted, it would likely take a lot of turnovers by Clemson for this game to still be even remotely competitive come the fourth quarter, but, again, this is about finding rhythm and confidence if you’re Clemson. Throwing interceptions, fumbling the ball all over the place and racking up a bunch of penalties wouldn’t exactly inspire that heading into next week.
That wasn’t much of a problem against Tech. Clemson committed just one turnover and was flagged just three times against the Yellow Jackets.
Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.
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