For Clemson fans, it’s already been a long, exhausting football season.
The Tigers entered the campaign with hopes of a second consecutive College Football Playoff appearance, but those were dashed rather quickly as the team dropped four of its first seven games.
After having last weekend off, Clemson returns to the field on Saturday against Duke. It’s also Homecoming, and the Tigers have been pretty successful over the years during those weekends. Since 1971, Clemson is 47-4-2 on Homecoming. Over that same span, the Tigers are 8-0-1 against the Blue Devils on Homecoming.
The last time the Tigers lost on Homecoming was 2010, Dabo Swinney’s second season, and the last time Clemson finished a season below .500. Ironically, the way this team has played, this might very well end up being the second losing season under Swinney.
That’s what makes this game so important. At 3-4, and looking at what the Tigers have left on the docket, there are legitimate questions surrounding whether this team can even get to the requisite six wins to qualify for a bowl game. Lose to the Blue Devils, and the chances of doing that decrease dramatically.
In the past, when you saw Duke on the schedule, you basically just put a W beside that one. But this isn’t one of those Blue Devils’ teams of the past. Sure, they got hammered by Illinois early on and even lost to Tulane, but since then, Manny Diaz’s team has found its footing. Since then, their only loss came to unbeaten Georgia Tech last time out.
Transfer quarterback Darien Mensah leads the nation in passing yards per game (315.9). He is hitting on more than 70% of his throws and has 17 touchdowns to just two interceptions. That spells bad news for a Clemson secondary that has exerienced its share of struggles. The safety/nickel spots have been a weak link all season.
On top of the dangerous passing attack, the Duke running game is also efficient. Nate Sheppard, the team’s leading rusher, averages seven yards per carry.
With the way the Clemson defense looked last time out in the loss to SMU, this could be another long afternoon. The Blue Devils are going to score, you just have to hope they don’t score in bunches.
One positive is it looks like Cade Klubnik will be back for this one, although Chris Vizzina mostly played well in his absence against SMU. However, if the Tigers are going to come out victorious, Klubnik and the offense need to play like it did in the wins over North Carolina and Boston College. Start quick, go up early, and keep the pressure on.
They will have to do that without leading receiver Bryant Wesco, who will miss the rest of the season with an injury. Antonio Williams and T.J. Moore will have to pick up the slack. Expect to see more of transfer wideout Tristan Smith as well, who fans have been clamoring to see.
Can the Tigers score enough to keep up with Mensah and the Blue Devils? I certainly wouldn’t bet on it.
The last time these two teams played was the season opener in 2023, a game the Blue Devils won 28-7 in Durham. The last time Duke beat Clemson in consecutive games? The 1969 and 1970 seasons.
Duke comes into Clemson and wins on Homecoming and the Tigers season continues to spiral as the Devils pick up back-to-back wins in the series for the first time in more than 50 years.
Duke 31 Clemson 23
Photo by Bart Boatwright