Clemson’s season opener against LSU did not go as the Tigers planned.

After bringing back a senior quarterback in Cade Klubnik, a veteran offensive line that returned seven players with multiple starts under their belt, and a group of wide receivers thought to be among the nation’s best, most expected the offense to be as good as it has been in years.

However, in the opener, that wasn’t the case, as Garrett Riley’s unit struggled mightily. While there is plenty of blame to go around, that veteran offensive line did not live up to the preseason hype. The Tigers struggled to protect Klubnik at times, with second-year center Ryan Linthicum noting the offensive line just did not do enough of the little things right.

“We had some good IDs, but there is definitely a lot of room for improvement,” Linthicum said. “Just the little things. You don’t realize how big the little things are in games like that. It can cost you a lot.”

When asked how disappointing it was to start the season off with that kind of performance, Linthicum had an interesting response.

“I look at it as a blessing,” he said. “We had a big, tough matchup first. I really like games like that. You kind of see where you’re at. There are a lot of things we can clean up, but it is all fixable.”

Next up for the Tigers is Troy. Clemson is more than a 30-point favorite in the contest, so this week is definitely an opportune time for the offense to get some things cleaned up.

And that all starts up front, and for Matt Luke’s group, it’s back to square one.

“Back to the drawing board,” Linthicum said.

“Just make sure we learn from our mistakes. It can still be a special season.”

Photo by Bart Boatwright