With Georgia Southern coming to town for the home opener, Clemson will be looking to rebound after a disastrous result in Baton Rouge last weekend.
The Tigers were drilled 51-10 by No. 8 LSU, and if Dabo Swinney’s team wants to flip the script on the season, it starts on Saturday night.
“Best thing about that one is it’s over,” Swinney said after the LSU game. “It’s not what we expected, not what we worked for, but that’s what happened. All we can do is try to let it develop us and get back to work.”
This will mark Georgia Southern’s third visit to Clemson, with the Tigers holding a 2-0 mark in the all-time series. The Eagles fell 38-17 at Death Valley in 2018 in the last meeting between the two programs.
After the result of last weekend, the Tigers are basically in a no-win situation. Come out and destroy the Eagles, and everyone will say that is what should have happened. Don’t beat them convincingly, and the extremely loud noise already surrounding the program will amplify to a whole other level.
Having said that, this game is more about Clemson than it is about the opponent. The Tigers looked flat-out inept in spots against LSU, and that is what has been so hard for fans to wrap their heads around. Not that Clemson was beaten, or even blown out. But how they looked in the defeat.
Improvement has to start along the offensive line. Veteran Collin Sadler is expected back at right tackle this week, and that should provide a boost for a unit that looked overwhelmed in the opener. If the Tigers continue to struggle up front, the criticisms about choosing not to add a veteran or two from the portal will only increase.
Clemson is also still looking for some clarity at quarterback. Neither Chris Vizzina nor Tait Reynolds showed that they were the guy in Baton Rouge, but with how the offensive line played, I’m not sure it would have mattered much who was taking the snaps. Knowing how ineffective the offensive line was in the first game, maybe Reynolds and his ability as a runner will prove to be the best option moving forward.
Despite Georgia Southern allowing less than 10 rushing yards in its shutout win over Charleston Southern last weekend, this game should also give Chad Morris an opportunity to get this running game going. Do that, and the passing game will open up, allowing whoever is at quarterback to take advantage of the talent the Tigers have at receiver.
People are also anxious to see how Tom Allen’s defense responds after giving up more than 600 yards of total offense to LSU. The Bayou Bengals were able to run it at will, finishing with over 300 yards on the ground. The Eagles ran for 163 yards last weekend.
Expect to see more of Sammy Brown at WILL and Jeremiah Alexander at MIKE, as Allen tries to shore up the front seven, seeing as Kobe McCloud seemed to really struggle in game one.
But it starts up front. This defensive line was just soft on the interior last week. The tackles just got pushed around. And if you are soft up the middle, your run defense is going to suffer. With Markus Strong now out for the season, things only get more challenging from here on out.
Like many of you, I am still trying to process the display Clemson put on last week. Not that they lost, or that they were even blown out, but how the team didn’t look like it belonged on the same field as LSU. They weren’t even competitive.
That is how it should look this week, with Clemson hosting Sun Belt team Georgia Southern. I’m not confident that is what is going to happen, though.
The Tigers come in as a 20.5-point favorite, and the program is 14-0 all-time against Sun Belt teams. Clemson is also 26-5 under lights at Death Valley in Swinney’s tenure.
I’m not questioning if they win, but I am wondering how convincing it will be. This one might be a bit close in the first half before the Tigers put it away in the second.
Clemson 41, Georgia Southern 21