6 days Ago
By Kyle Golik After Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney buried ACC officials about their performance yesterday, I felt it was a ripe opportunity to “poke the bear” per se and ask the hard question of is Clemson a College Football Playoff team? I complimented Clemson’s 24-20 win over Pitt as a “playoff enhancing resume win” to grease the wheels a bit. Basically I gave in my question to Swinney like the Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort “sell me this pen” drill, and Swinney obliged with nearly a five-minute answer. Let’s look at Swinney’s comments as a whole: “Well, I mean, we're 8-2, it's hard to win, we're undefeated on the road for the 10th time in 129 years.
It's not like that happens every year. It's hard to do, hard to get, we beat everybody who beat us last year. We obviously didn't get to play Duke, it's a 17 team league, and there's, we got one loss to a good team.
And we didn't have a great day that day, they were better than us, and we got one loss. And we lost a tough opener (Georgia), a game that we really, we just had a bad third quarter. And we got a great quarterback, who's, if you look at our quarterback, he's right there with Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, statistically.
He takes care of them all, he makes big plays. We got dudes that are getting better every week. In our skill positions, we got some young guys that are just blossoming.
Our defense is playing as well as it's played all year. We got a kicker that just made a 51 yarder, why not? Why not? I mean, it's hard to win. It's hard to win, we're 8-2.
We got one freaking loss in this league. We don't play the other team that's undefeated. And I think we got a team that's really kind of just finding their way right now.
We've overcome a ton. I mean, I'm talking about no (Collin) Sadler, no Marcus Tate, no Tristan Leigh, no Elyjah Thurman. That's four starters gone from your offensive line, and you got guys out there getting it done.
You got no way, then you lose Sammy (Judy). You got kids just stepping up all over the place. So, I mean, listen, we're in the fight, that's all you can ask for.
I mean, we're in the fight. We had a chance to control our destiny, so we need a little bit of help. But all we can do is just take care of our business.
We got a chance to finish 10-2. Again, we got a chance to get a ninth win next week for the 14th year in a row. I'll wait and count on how many teams in the country have done that.
One, two, that's it. All right, it's a very short list. So, these kids got a lot of heart, they got a lot of toughness.
We're a team that believes and I think they can play with anybody on any given day, but again, we're not worried about it. We don't control what other people say and do and all that stuff. All we do is just gonna try to keep playing.
A lot can happen, I don't know what's happened today, but a lot can happen in college football on any given weekend. So, we just gotta keep battling and we'll see what happens. I mean, I believe what God's got for you, he's got for you.
So, we just gotta stay locked in on what we're doing and we'll see how it all plays out. But I love our group and we're not gonna lose many guys on this team. We got three starters on defense and three on offense that have to leave.
And so we've got a chance to be a team that I think really, that's why experience like this today is huge for your group and how it teaches them and develops them to where they expect it. That's a good next step for us, but I mean, why not? We've been there, I mean, we're proving that second most playoff wins, second most national championships, why not? We've proven that we can play on that stage. That this team in particular, if they wanna have a shot at that, they've gotta finish, and they'll have the opportunity to do that.
” - Dabo Swinney on if Clemson is a playoff team © Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports I get I got what I asked for. There is a lot to unpack with Swinney’s comments.
The biggest things he hits on is the consistency and resilience of his program. There is no denying where Clemson’s spot has been in the sport in the last decade and a half, only Alabama has won nine or more games in a row as long as Clemson. While past performances, although great for Clemson as a program, it doesn’t guarantee that great performances lie ahead for the Tigers in this playoff.
The one thing that hurt Florida State last season was injuries when it came to the committee. When it came to inviting teams, you would figure a team that was a Power Five champion that went undefeated would get into the Playoff a year ago, that didn’t happen. Clemson has injuries on the offensive line that have really set them back.
Watching the game in the press box at Acrisure Stadium, I saw a Pitt defense physically own the Clemson offensive line, having five sacks and 14 tackles for loss. An even bigger indicator is Clemson, up until their final drive where quarterback Cade Klubnik had a 50-yard touchdown run, had only eight rushing yards total in the game. Running back Phil Mafah , who entered the game against Pitt averaging 109 yards per game, was held to 17 yards.
I could see what makes Clemson special and good with quarterback Cade Klubnik, he was accurate throughout most of the game. The reads and decision-making were great in the first half, especially with his connection to wide receiver Antonio Williams who finished with 13 receptions (17 targets) 149 yards, and two touchdowns. While Klubnik accounted for 244 of the 246 first half yards for Clemson, Pitt was able to stonewall Clemson for much of the second half until the final drive where Clemson only had 27 yards of total offense.
© Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Clemson is in the proverbial glass half empty and glass half full situation. You can call the performance resilient or you can point out its flaws. What happened yesterday in college football saw BYU, Louisville, Tennessee, Washington State, and Kansas State all lose, which should help Clemson inch closer toward the Top 12.
South Carolina outlasted Missouri, which should give Clemson one final resume-enhancer game in The Palmetto Bowl to end the season. Defensively, Clemson stymied Pitt where it mattered most and took advantage of injuries themselves. Pitt has been without quarterback Eli Holstein, who was the engine to Pitt's 7-0 start.
While quarterback Nate Yarnell played well, his inability to be dynamic and extend plays cost Pitt a signature win. Clemson finished with eight sacks, the most for the program since the 2021 Wake Forest game. Along with the season high in sacks, Clemson recorded their season high in tackles for loss with 16 - the most for the program since the 2004 Miami game and fourth most in program history.
It could be continued dominant defensive performances like that they could sway committee members to extend an invite to Clemson for the playoff. Like I mentioned last week in my column about Swinney , he needs a College Football Playoff appearance to justify his stance of not using the portal. I get Swinney is like “why not us,” he gave good answers, but I am still seeking the “why.
” My eye test sees a flawed team that escaped from Pitt because Pitt beat themselves - 13 penalties for 100 yards along with conservative play calling in crunch time doomed the Panthers and opened the door for Clemson. That door to the College Football Playoff isn’t open right now for Clemson, nor should it. They need to display a great game against South Carolina in the final game of the season, and maybe the Tigers can catch a break with more chaos.
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