With Clemson fresh off an open date, the Tigers are continuing preparations for their final road game of the regular season Saturday at Notre Dame.
Offensively, coordinator Brandon Streeter said there’s one specific area he’d like to see his unit improve on in order to give Clemson the best chance of getting out of Notre Dame Stadium with its perfect record intact.
“It comes down to our execution and being able to finish some of the drives maybe that we’ve been stalling on,” Streeter said.
Clemson has been one of the best teams in the nation at getting points in the red zone, converting on 38 of its 39 red-zone trips. But Streeter would like even more of those possessions to reach the end zone. Ten of the Tigers’ red-zone scores have been field goals, including one their last time out against Syracuse.
Clemson ended a string of 21 unanswered points for the Orange just before halftime with B.T. Potter’s 44-yard field goal, but the Tigers had a prime opportunity for more when the Tigers drove to Syracuse’s 20-yard line a few players earlier. But Clemson lost a combined 6 yards after getting to the red zone, including an 11-yard sack of quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, before having to settle for Potter’s first kick.
The Tigers erased an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take a 24-21 lead, but Clemson later had another drive deep into Syracuse territory that would’ve put it out of reach had the Tigers scored a touchdown. Instead, with freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik on in relief for a struggling Uiagalelei, the Tigers netted just 8 yards on three plays after reaching the Orange’s 35, forcing Potter to kicker another field goal that kept Syracuse within striking distance with 1 minute, 33 seconds remaining.
It wasn’t until the R.J. Mickens’ interception of Garrett Shrader with just a few ticks left that Clemson sealed the win, something Streeter wished the offense had been able to do when it had the chance.
“When we cross the 50-yard line, there’s been a couple of times where we haven’t finished in the end zone and leave it up to our kicker, who is so good,” Streeter said. “Thank goodness we have B.T. Potter. But just being able to finish in the red zone is something I’d like to see a better job of.”
Streeter threw out one other facet of the offense’s game that he’d like to see shored up, one that isn’t all that surprising given Clemson’s season-high four turnovers that had the Tigers needing to rally in the first place.
“Taking care of the football,” he said.
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