CLEMSON — One thing I have learned in my many years of covering football is this – the game is not complicated.

Winning football games comes down to two things, and if you are not good at one of these two things you are not going to win.

It is that simple.

I do not care if you have Vince Lombardi as your head coach, Tom Brady as your quarterback, Jerry Rice catching passes, Jim Brown running the football, Dick Butkus playing middle linebacker, Jack Ham at outside backer, Mel Blount at corner and Ronnie Lott at safety – if you are not good in the trenches, you are not winning football games.

You must be good on both the offensive and defensive lines. This is where it all starts and where it all ends, everything else comes in between.

This is the area that scares Clemson fans, especially on the offensive line. Last year, the Tigers were not very good on the O-Line, and some of that had to do with injuries.

With the Tigers considered to have an average to below average offensive line in 2026, the idea was they would hit the transfer portal and maybe go get an experienced center and right tackle to come in and compete for the starting jobs.

Clemson jumped into the portal and was aggressive looking for an experienced tackle. The Tigers pursued at least three offensive tackles, but they did not get one to come to Clemson.

As for center, they did not offer anyone, as it appears they feel comfortable with senior Harris Sewell and possibly redshirt-freshman Gavin Blanchard starting there. Sewell has some experience at center, but he has primarily played guard his whole football career.

Blanchard came to Clemson as the nation’s No. 3 center, according to ESPN, and as the ninth-best center in the nation by Rivals. Regardless, there is going to be a lot of inexperience at the position.

The same can be said at right tackle. Because the Tigers failed to get an experienced right tackle out of the portal, their options are Ian Reed, who has spent most of his first three years on the injured reserve list, redshirt freshman Easton Ware and redshirt sophomore Mason Wade, who has the most snaps with 51 in six games of the three.

I know none of this makes you feel better about the situation, which is the point of this column.

Clemson’s offensive line is in the same shape as its quarterback position. There are a lot of unknowns.

However, what we know is this. Clemson did not fix either in the transfer portal. That means Dabo Swinney is rolling the dice on a lot of inexperienced players. He is either rolling a “7” or “11” and the Tigers have a season no one can imagine or he rolls “snake eyes,” and we know what that means.