Clemson welcomes Duke to town on Saturday, with the Tigers looking for their first win over a Power-4 team at home in more than a year. Something that seemed so incomprehensible just a short time ago.
Both teams had last weekend off, and Clemson has beaten Duke in each of the past 15 meetings in Death Valley. The Blue Devils have not won in Memorial Stadium since 1980. A 16th straight home win would tie for Clemson’s second-longest home winning streak against a single opponent all-time, matching 16-game streaks against Virginia (1956-89) and Wake Forest (1963-91).
However, the last time these two teams squared off, it was the Blue Devils knocking off the Tigers 28-7 in the 2023 season opener in Durham. The last time Duke won two straight in the series was way back in the 1969 and 1970 seasons.
5 Things to Watch For
1. Can Cade Fully Go: It’s looking like Cade Klubnik will be back on Saturday. Backup Chris Vizzina was really good in his first career start in the loss to SMU. At least over the final three quarters. While he was not the reason the Tigers dropped that game, the fact is, Clemson still lost. By double digits.
The Tigers’ best chance is with Klubnik. A healthy Klubnik. The Klubnik we saw in the wins over North Carolina and Boston College. Not the inconsistent Klubnik we saw against LSU, Troy, Georgia Tech and Syracuse.
However, can Klubnik be a factor with his legs? If not, that could pose some problems for an offense that’s really struggled to run the ball.
2. Can Clemson Defense Show Some Heart: The Blue Devils are going to try and throw it all over the field. Duke has one of the most prolific passing offenses in the country, with transfer quarterback Darien Mensah leading the nation in passing yards, averaging 316 per contest.
The backend has been a weak link for Tom Allen’s unit, particularly the safeties. Knowing where Duke wideout Cooper Barkate is at all times will be an absolute must. However, he’s just one of several dangerous pass catchers. Like Barkate, Que’sean Brown and Sahmir Hagans both average more than 13 yards per reception. Cooper and Hagans have combined for nine touchdown catches.
This is going to be one of the toughest tasks to date for the secondary, which barely ranks inside the Top 80 nationally.
The Blue Devils are also converting an impressive 45% of their third downs and the Tigers have certainly been prone to giving up some big third-down conversions. If that trend continues, it might make for another long day in Death Valley.
3. Protect the QB: Duke comes in with a modest 17 sacks this season. The same number as Clemson. But VJ Anthony has accounted for 6.5 of those, which is tops in the ACC. Some mock drafts are predicting him as a late first-round pick. He is one of the most disruptive pass rushers in the league.
Duke will use him on both sides, so the tackles are going to have their hands full, particularly freshman Brayden Jacobs if Tristan Leigh can’t go or is still limited. This will not be a game where the running backs can have a bunch of whiffs in pass pro.
4. Run the Freaking Ball: We’ve seen it over and over. Garrett Riley hasn’t really made a concerted effort to establish the ground game. The struggles of the run blocking absolutely have to factor into those decisions, but the bottom line is the Tigers have to be more effective when it comes to running the ball.
There also has to be more of an effort to get the backups more involved. Adam Randall has been more than serviceable when given half a chance. Gideon Davidson and David Eziomume might be better equipped to run behind the shoddy blocking. Both are capable of making something out of nothing.
Dabo Swinney and Riley both said this week that the other backs are going to be rotated in more. However, we have heard that before. Will they actually follow through this time?
5. Find Some Way to Pressure Mensah: Duke ranks No. 75 in the nation in sacks allowed, so there should be some opportunities to get after Mensah. Allen admitted recently that he’s been hesitant to dial up the blitz due to the coverage issues on the backend, but somehow, some way, Clemson has to find a way to create some pressure. Maybe the answer to that is putting Jahiem Lawson on the field more.
Photo by Bart Boatwright