MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — We are seven weeks into the season, and Clemson currently stands in eighth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

That’s right. Eighth place in the ACC.

To add some flavor to this fact, look who is currently ahead of the defending ACC Champions in the standings. Louisville and Duke are tied with North Carolina for second place.

Virginia Tech, Boston College and Georgia Tech are all ranked ahead of the Tigers, too.

But maybe this is what we should expect from Clemson. Maybe what we all saw at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday night is the future for Clemson football.

Graduate senior Xavier Thomas did not play in the game due to a violation of team rules. Graduate senior Justin Mascoll got hurt.

With those two out, two guys who will be gone on at the end of the season, Clemson’s “Championship Level Defense” looked very average in the fourth quarter and overtime against Miami.

The Tigers (4-3, 2-3 ACC) could not stop the run and could not stop the pass. The Hurricanes, who are not that good, by the way, beat Clemson with its backup quarterback.

They beat Clemson by running the football down its throat in the second half. They beat Clemson by bullying Clemson.

Clemson used to be the bully in the ACC, but that is no longer the case.

Maybe what we saw Saturday night in Miami Gardens is Clemson? Maybe it is Clemson’s future?

Think about it. Cade Klubnik is supposed to be the future on offense, but for a second straight game, he digressed.

Yes, his touchdown passes to tight end Jack Briningstool were things of beauty. However, what did he do the rest of the game?

Klubnik fumbled twice–losing one of them–and threw an interception. He completed just 18-of-34 passes (52.9 percent) and made the biggest mistake of the night when he tried to play hero and took a potential game-tying touchdown away from running back Will Shipley and was dropped for an eight-yard loss on the game’s final play.

Speaking of Shipley, he did not do much either. He ran for just 44 yards on 15 carries and fumbled the ball away before getting to the end zone of what should have been another touchdown.

The offensive line was poorest, too.

The Tigers averaged just 0.9 yards on 34 carries and rushed for 31 yards. Miami had 10 tackles for loss, including five sacks.

By the way, with Thomas and Mascoll not present, Clemson’s pass rush was non-existent. The Tigers did not have a sack all night and when the going got tough in the fourth quarter, they got going.

Clemson’s loss to Miami on Saturday night was a collective effort by both the offense and the defense. No one can point fingers at the other.

However, we can. It is obvious there are a lot of people we can point the finger at, starting with the guy at the top, and I am sure he would agree.

All week, Dabo Swinney talked about Clemson fans’ expectations and how some have already jumped off a bandwagon that has seen the Tigers record 12 straight seasons with 10 or more wins.

But maybe those fans already saw the future and they did not like what they saw. I’ll be honest. What I saw on Saturday night did not make me feel confident in the future either.

Maybe what we saw on Saturday is the future for Clemson Football. Maybe we should temper our expectations in Tigertown.

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