On Saturday, Clemson picked up its second overtime loss this season, falling to Miami 28-20 at Hard Rock Stadium. 

The loss brought the Tigers’ record to 4-3 (2-3 ACC), similar to the 2021 team that was “not nearly as good,” according to coach Dabo Swinney.

In the wake of the latest defeat, few players have received as much criticism as quarterback Cade Klubnik, who made his eighth collegiate start in the game.

Klubnik met with the media Monday, sharing his current mentality and his hopes for the rest of the season. 

–Klubnik quickly acknowledged a “lot of mistakes throughout the whole game,” starting with the final botched fourth-and-goal play from the 1-yard line in double overtime. “Obviously, in a game like that, everybody’s going to point to the last one and I’m pointing to the last one myself. But you got to do a kind of reevaluation of the whole game, and there’s a lot of plays that we want back.”

–As Clemson continues a year that feels reminiscent of a rocky (6-7) 2010 season, according to Swinney, Klubnik believes his team can either linger on the tough loss or “flush it” and move on to the next game. “I think that I’m going to have a long career here, and having great conversations with coaches and other guys, you know you can go two ways with this. Our way is we’re just going to continue to grow and get better every single week.”

–While the offense failed to capitalize on crucial drives throughout the game, junior Jake Briningstool proved to be a silver lining, recording a Clemson tight end single-game record of 126 receiving yards while hauling in two touchdowns. “ He’s a big player playing big and that’s what you love to see,” Klubnik said. “He’s a guy that I can trust, that I have confidence in.”

–Through the adversity of the season’s first seven games, critics have questioned the mentality of both Tiger players and coaches. Klubnik, however, believes this season holds many positives. “We’ve got a lot of guys who have had a lot of success in the past in their years of playing football, and for the first time they’re not getting as much of that. It’s really good for them and really good for me to know what winning truly takes.”

Clemson has another chance to prove itself and even its ACC record this weekend when taking on NC State (4-3, 1-2 ACC). The Tigers and the Wolfpack will kick off in Carter-Finley Stadium at 2 p.m. Saturday.

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