No. 19 Clemson faces same old questions heading down the stretch after Death Valley defeat

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson thought it was done with the bad feelings this season. Then the Tigers were dominated at home by Louisville last week and same old questions about their talent, depth and ability to compete against the best came back.

“We felt we were a better team,” Clemson receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. said.

The 19th-ranked Tigers (6-2, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference; No. 23 CFP) lost their grip on a spot in the ACC title game and the College Football Playoff with the 33-21 loss last weekend that pushed the Cardinals into the rankings at No. 25.

“There were a lot of things we made mistakes on,” said Wesco, a freshman who leads the team with 17.5 yards per catch and has the longest touchdown catch, 76 yards against Appalachian State, this season. “We know that we are a lot better than what we showed out. We know we can’t control whether we make it to the playoffs, but we just have to go out and finish like we did last year.”

The Tigers won their final five games in 2023 after falling from contention with a 4-4 start. Winning out this season, which starts with a game Saturday at Virginia Tech, might not be enough to reach the league championship with No. 4 Miami and No. 13 SMU still undefeated in ACC play.

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The glaring defeat a week ago — Clemson trailed 26-7 before tightening things up with two fourth-quarter touchdowns — opened many of the wounds from after the team’s first game. That’s when they lost to then-No. 1 Georgia amid questions about coach Dabo Swinney’s handling of a program that had not reached the playoffs since 2020 after getting there six straight seasons.

Swinney, a noted non-user of the transfer portal, was asked this week about if he regretted not adding a defensive lineman from the portal with injuries to tackle DeMonte Capehart and Tre Williams, and end Peter Woods.

“We love our roster,” said Swinney, to almost no one’s surprise. “Sometimes you have injuries and things like that, so we do not have any regrets on how we put our roster together this past year.”

Williams and Woods, both starters, are progressing and could be on track to face the Hokies. Capehart is expected to take longer in recovering from an ankle injury.

When questions about Clemson’s loss to Louisville persisted, Swinney cut them off. “That game is over. Guys, let’s move on,” he said.

Moving forward doesn’t come easily, Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik said. He threw for 228 yards, his second fewest of the season after 142 in the opening loss to Georgia.

Klubnik immersed himself in film work at the facility this past Sunday. When he left, felt like he had flushed the poor showing.

“It easy to think about the outcome a lot,” the junior quarterback said. “We’re not in full control of our destiny anymore and that’s a tough thing to accept. But we are in control of going to play the best game that we can this week.”

Clemson’s breakdowns on defense were particularly surprising to watch at home where the team allowed 30 or more points for a second straight game, although unlike the 48-31 win over Virginia on Oct. 19, the Tigers had no sizeable lead to cushion the defensive failures.

“I just know being a leader on this team, I can’t dwell on something like that,” linebacker Barrett Carter said. “Us as a team, we can’t dwell on anything like that either.”

Swinney has watched teams let one bad defeat linger for a week or two and lead to more disappointment. It’s essential, he said, for the team to learn from what happened while not forgetting Clemson’s strong play during a six-game win streak this season.

“There’s always a lesson,” Swinney said. “These are 18-to-22 year old young people that work their butts off and they’re having to deal with disappointment and failure.”

The mission and mindset this week is clear to quarterback Klubnik.

“Let’s go play our best game on Saturday,” he said.

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