For the first time in history, SMU will visit Death Valley on Saturday.
Clemson will host the Mustangs in a rematch of last year’s thrilling ACC Championship Game that saw the Tigers hold off a furious rally by SMU and clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff with a 56-yard Nolan Hauser field goal as time expired.
On Tuesday, Mustangs’ head coach Rhett Lashlee noted how tough the Tigers have been at home over the years, and that his team knows what kind of challenge they will be facing.
However, the Tigers haven’t been so formidable at home of late. Clemson has lost four straight against Power-4 teams.
When these two teams face off on Saturday, it will have been almost a year since the Tigers have beaten a Power-4 team inside Death Valley. The last time came on October 19 of last year, a 49-34 victory over Tony Elliott and Virginia.
“One of the hardest places to play in America,” Lashlee said during his weekly press conference.
“They’re used to winning. They expect to win. I think in the last 10 years they’ve only lost seven home games. They’ve just created that winning, championship culture and expectation.”
When Lashlee looks at this Clemson team, he sees a team talented enough to play with anyone. A team worthy of all the preseason hype it received before starting the season 1-3.
“Loads of talent,” Lashlee said. “All the preseason accolades were right. Struggled a little bit early, but the last two weeks, they are hitting their stride. Defensively, at least statistically, they are the second-best defense in our league. One of the best defenses in the country, and it starts up front. The D-line, they are number one in the country with the quickest pressure rate on a QB. They’ve got a couple of NFL D-ends and a couple of NFL D-tackles, and the second group isn’t a big drop-off.”
The Tigers are fresh off back-to-back blowout wins over North Carolina and Boston College. Both came on the road.
While those are arguably the two worst teams in the ACC, Lashlee sees a Clemson team that is starting to put it together, and on both sides of the ball.
“I think they are hitting their stride offensively, too,” Lashlee said. “Like anybody, we’ve gone through some ups and downs, even if you think you know what you have going in, offensive football, sometimes it takes a little bit longer to get going. They are a complete team.”
“You can’t just look at records like you used to could. They did like we did. They went through their bye week and kind of got it figured out for the rest of the season, and they’ve played really well the last two weeks.”
Photo by Jerome Miron-Imagn Images