Clemson’s offense committed another untimely turnover in last Saturday’s 17-12 win over Wake Forest, losing a fumble inside the Tigers’ own 10-yard line.

The miscue occurred in the first quarter on Clemson’s second possession on a botched exchange between quarterback Cade Klubnik and running back Will Shipley. Klubnik was officially credited with the fumble, though Shipley shouldered the blame for it after the game, saying it was “entirely on me” not giving his quarterback the option to pull the ball and rushing the play.

“I tend to just want the ball and go, especially when I’m feeling pressure from that defensive end… Still a really tough read on Cade… I didn’t really give him that opportunity,” Shipley said.

Klubnik met with the media on Monday and addressed the fumble as well, saying the fault is actually on him and not Shipley.

“He can take the blame, but it was my fault,” Klubnik said. “It was on me, for sure.”

After taking the blame himself, the sophomore signal-caller detailed what went down on the play from his perspective, explaining he should have been “decisive” as far as whether to hand the ball off or keep it himself on the zone read.

“Got a little tricked up on the read,” Klubnik explained. “Pretty much, I’m reading the defensive end. Defensive end crashed, so my read is to pull it, and then they had a scraper – which means the defensive end crashes, and the linebacker’s scraping around – so pretty much, my read was to pull it, and then I saw the scraper so I tried to give it late. But I’ve just got to be decisive.

“They ended up doing it about three or four more times throughout the rest of the game, that they literally did the exact same thing, and we ended up handing it and maybe getting a gain of 1 or 2. But it’s better than me pulling it and taking a 4- or 5-yard loss from the linebacker.”

The turnover didn’t turn out to be costly, as Clemson’s defense bailed the offense out with a goal-line stand to keep the Demon Deacons from putting any points on the board. Still, it served as a learning opportunity for Klubnik and Shipley.

“It was definitely something that we learned from and something that we hadn’t really gotten a true look at this year,” Klubnik said. “So, it was really good for us, for me and Will, especially for me.”

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