Listen, before you come to this up in arms, understand that this is not a Cade Klubnik slam piece. Sure, Klubnik hasn't had the season many fans were hoping for, but you cannot lay the blame for Clemson's offensive struggles at his feet. No, this is about something that should've been clear before the season even started:
Don't put the game on your quarterback's shoulders unless you have to.
This isn't just a Clemson thing, it's a football thing. The best teams dominate the line of scrimmage, both defensively and offensively. Think about Clemson when they were winning championships. Yes, you had Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, but it was historic defensive lines and dominating run games - including Travis Etienne, the ACC's all-time leading rusher - that were the heart of those teams. There were moments when Clemson had to hand the controls to the quarterbacks - Deshaun Watson against Alabama - but only when they HAD to. It's not what you start with, it's what you go to when you need to.
For much of this season, the Tigers have taken the opposite approach. Under first-year offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, Clemson's offense has run through sophomore quarterback Cade Klubnik, putting it on the 20-year-old's back to carry the offense for large portions of the game. Facing a top-15 team on Saturday, Clemson tried a different approach.
Against Notre Dame, the Tigers handed the ball to junior running back Phil Mafah 36 times, bruising the Notre Dame defense and racking up 186 yards and a couple of scores. Cade Klubnik, in contrast, only attempted 26 passes, completing just 13 of those for 106 yards. 55 of those yards came on one drive in the second quarter that ended in Klubnik's one touchdown of the day. He'd then throw an interception on the first drive of the second half that set Notre Dame up for a one-play. two-yard drive that brought the game back to one score. Basically, the passing game was a wash. Clemson could've thrown no passes in the second half and likely won the game.
It feels like Clemson skipped over a lot of developmental steps with Klubnik, and instead expected him to come out and perform like of the elite quarterbacks in the game. That just rarely happens. Hendon Hooker and Stetson Bennett had incredible seasons last year; they were 24 and 25 years old respectively, given time to grow and develop. For as incredible as Joe Burrow was at LSU in 2019, he was equally as average in 2018. It took a new coordinator, and the SEC's leading rusher Clyde Edwards-Helaire, to unlock what Burrow could be.
Clemson can still get to nine wins this year. That would go a long way toward creating positive momentum going into the offseason. They're not going to do it by throwing the ball 50 times a game. Keep using the talented backs that you have and let the defense get softened up for Klubnik. Then he can come into his own.
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