The Bad, the Ugly and yes, Virginia, there is some good.
Rarely does anything good come out of a loss. Losing to #4 Notre Dame Saturday night broke a few winning streaks by our tigers, but just like the last loss to Syracuse in 2017 (regular season loss), Clemson will simply start a new streak.
For the second straight week, Trevor Lawrence was required to sit the game out, and freshman DJ Uiagalelei drove the offense. Similar to the Boston College game, Clemson fell behind in the 1st half and came roaring back in the second half. DJ finished the night 29-44 for 439 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions. Cornell Powell (6 – 161 and one TD) and Amari Rodgers (8 – 134) excelled at the wide receiver position. Travis Etienne did NOT have the game on the ground the Clemson offense needed, getting only 28 yards, but did catch 8 passes for 57 yards. All in all, the offense played well in the 2nd half, but fell short in overtime.
The bad? That would be the injury bug. These tigers are hurting and a bye week couldn’t come up fast enough. Three defensive starters missed this very important game once again. James Skalski, Tyler Davis, and Mike Jones, Jr., missed the game for the 2nd straight week. Additionally, Justin Foster is still out, and defensive end Xavier Thomas missed the 1st half due to a targeting call in the BC game. To make matters worse, in the 2nd half, several other tigers went down with injuries; Bryan Bresee, Nolan Turner, Lannden Zanders, Andrew Booth, and Justin Mascoll. Putting it all together, by the time the game ended, Clemson was down to three regular starters against the Irish. Like I said, the injury bug took its toll and this bye week could not have come at a better time.
It was truly ugly watching Clemson’s depleted front seven try to get pressure on ND QB Ian Book. Every time it seemed like the defense was getting ready to get to him, he would sneak out and get valuable yardage or find a receiver wide open. The stats showed ND had over 500 yards, over 300 through the air. This is not a typical Clemson defensive effort, but then again, you had Clemson operating under a freshman quarterback in his 2nd college start on offense. His numbers were good, but he isn’t quite the game manager Lawrence is. Will he be? Of course and when he takes over next year, he will be ready. The Clemson defense depends on the pressure to protect the secondary. Give this Clemson defense two weeks to heal up, then turn them loose again.
The Tigers took the loss in overtime. Injuries are the main culprit in this loss, not to mention the loss of Heisman Candidate Trevor Lawrence. He is ready to get back to work and Florida State is next on the schedule. We should all say a prayer for the Seminoles. Trevor has some making up to do.
