The first two weeks of the 2024 season could not have gone more differently from one game to the next for the Clemson Tigers.
After being soundly beaten 34-3 by Georgia in the season opener on Aug. 31 at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the 20th-ranked Tigers responded with a 66-20 thrashing of App State in Week 2.
Clemson put up 712 yards of total offense and scored touchdowns on their first eight possessions with the offense on the field, totaling 56 points in the first half.
Cade Klubnik finished the first quarter 11-of-11 passing for 233 yards and four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing). He would account for seven touchdowns total in the Tigers’ rout.
That left Fox Sports college football analyst and broadcaster Joel Klatt to ask a simple question to Clemson fans on the Wednesday edition of his video podcast, “The Joel Klatt Show.”
“Clemson fans… which one is it?” Klatt asked. “And you know what? Cautiously, I’m optimistic. Because for the first time since last year, I can honestly say this is kind of what I wanted to start to see last season when Garrett Riley became your offensive coordinator.”
Klatt went on to recall his initial excitement over the Tigers’ hiring of Riley after he guided TCU’s offense to the 2022 College Football Playoff Championship against Georgia.
The former Colorado quarterback, now a broadcaster on Fox’s weekly ‘Big Noon Saturday’ games, said he had hoped and envisioned Riley doing the same for Klubnik and Clemson’s offense — which Klatt labeled as having become “stagnant” — as he had done with TCU.
“And I thought, ‘You know what? Clemson’s going to win the ACC,’ and then it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen at all,” Klatt said. “Maybe I was just a year early. Maybe we’re just starting to see this come to fruition. Klubnik was 24-of-26 for 378 yards, five (passing) touchdowns against App State, and he’s the National Player of the Week. This is what I thought 15 games ago. Maybe it just took 15 games in order for them to develop and really learn the system.”
Klatt added that Clemson’s schedule no longer seemed as daunting after NC State’s 51-10 blowout loss to Tennessee at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte last Saturday, coupled with Florida State’s 0-2 start. FSU lost to Georgia Tech in Ireland before falling by two touchdowns at home to Boston College a week later.
“NC State in a couple of weeks, and Florida State in four weeks don’t look that great,” Klatt said of Clemson’s opponents. “Should (Clemson) be favored? In the ACC, probably not because of the way Miami looks, but this is their toughest remaining games: NC State, Florida State, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Pitt, South Carolina. All the sudden, it doesn’t look so bad. It doesn’t look so bad.
“And the (Clemson) fan base… I would frame this as maybe a moment where Klubnik and Garrett Riley and the offense start to turn the corner. You don’t have to face Georgia every week and in fact you can get better. And you know what? Maybe down the road, you’re going to get another chance at Georgia, and maybe down the road, you’re going to get a chance at Miami in the ACC Championship Game.”
Klatt closed by saying that “we wrote Clemson off” because of the manner in which they lost to Georgia. He added that App State was “no slouch” and was “one of the top 33 teams in the country.”
“And (Clemson) absolutely hammered them. It wasn’t even close,” Klatt said. “I believe they scored their 42nd point at like the 12-minute mark of the second quarter. It was wild.”
Clemson has a bye this week before hosting NC State on Sept. 21 at noon ET. The game will be televised on ABC.
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