Dabo Swinney Blunt About Clemson's, Klubnik's Performance

With the Clemson Tigers losing to LSU on Saturday night, the naysayers and skeptics are out in full force. The version of quarterback Cade Klubnik that we saw during his stellar 2024 season wasn’t there out of the gate, and it’s allowing some to make a mountain out of a mole hill after one game. 

It is true that Clemson had opportunities to win the football game, but failed to capitalize on them, ultimately missing those chances. The completion rate wasn't there for Klubnik, having only completed 50% of his passes, after achieving a completion percentage of 63.4% the previous year. 

He threw one interception and had only six all of last season. While this was not at all what the Tigers were looking to see, there is no reason to panic. It's one game.

LSU retooled on defense and had a game plan to shut down the Clemson offense by pressuring Klubnik all night long and making the run offense virtually non-existent. 

Following the disappointing loss at home, head coach Dabo Swinney chose the brutally honest route when evaluating. 

"We had some critical drops on some contested plays we need to make, not good on third down. Had a couple of penalties. And Cade did not play well."

This wasn't a bashing of his quarterback. If anything, it's only constructive criticism. 

Swinney has been in the game long enough not to have to be optimistic about non-existent happenings. The bottom line is Clemson didn't get the win, and that's OK. It's a long season. Not to mention that the college football playoff has expanded to 12 teams. These Week One losses aren’t as dire as they were in the four-team playoff or BCS days. 

LSU entered the season as the ninth-ranked team in the nation, boasting a strong defense, excellent receivers and a projected first-round NFL prospect at quarterback. According to the outcome of this game and how the rest of the weekend turned out, they could have been a bit higher.

Of course, any loss is concerning, but Klubnik remains a top quarterback in the nation who makes sound decisions and doesn't turn the ball over at a high rate. Clemson boasts a strong defense, a deep wide receiver room, and a young yet deep running back room as well. 

Afterwards, Klubnik tried to put the fans' minds at ease and show he’s ready to correct course and win. 

"Let's bounce back and get to the playoffs."

Clemson will have their chance to start the road to recovery when it takes on Troy next Saturday. Kick-off is set for 3:30 p.m. EDT.

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