CLEMSON — Mario Cristobal is st to make his first trip to Clemson as head coach at Miami.
The fourth-ranked Hurricanes will visit Memorial Stadium for a prime-time matchup against Dabo Swinney’s Tigers, as Miami looks to remain unbeaten (4-0, 1-0 ACC).
Clemson comes in riding a three-game winning streak after its blowout loss at LSU to open the season, and Cristobal has seen something different from the Tigers in the wins over Georgia Southern, North Carolina and Cal. What has really stood out is the play of the defense and the strong special teams.
“Particularly important to mention is their second half — they do a great job adjusting,” Cristobal said. “In the second half, I don’t believe they’ve allowed a touchdown. They’ve outscored opponents 42-6, so they’re doing a really good job seeing the results of the first half, tweaking what they’re doing coming out in the second half, and doing a great job in the second half. Really important note. Also, they’re averaging over 120 yards rushing before they’ve taken over games and have won. So really impressed with them.
“Also, special teams touchdown for them this past week on a punt return. Really dangerous returner. A lot of high-level athletes, elite players at a lot of different positions, and they are playing really, really good football. Veteran defense — I believe nine of 11 starters are upperclassmen.”
On the offensive side of the ball, starting running back Gideon Davidson is one player that Cristobal believes deserves his team’s attention. Davidson has rushed for 263 yards and three scores in the last two wins.
With Miami surrendering just 158 yards on the ground total through the first four games, this matchup will provide quite the challenge for a Clemson running game that is just finding its footing.
“Just tremendous contact balance. He can accelerate. He runs behind his pads, runs through tackles. Rarely gets tackled by the first guy. Explosive,” Cristobal said. “You watch this past week, they run sprint draw on third and long. He just finds a crease, gets a good wall block right there by a couple wide, and takes off, and nobody catches him. A guy who has really changed. I don’t want to say changed. They already had explosive players, but presents a tremendous threat on any given touch to take it to the house. He did it against North Carolina. He did it against Cal this past week. Just a really impressive player. “
Clemson hosts No. 4 Miami on Saturday night, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ABC.
Photo courtesy of Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider