There’s been no lack of national media reaction in the aftermath of Clemson’s season-opening upset loss, and among the many analysts who’ve weighed in is Joel Klatt.
On The Joel Klatt Show, the lead FOX Sports college football analyst gave his take on the state of Dabo Swinney’s program after the Tigers’ 28-7 loss at Duke on Monday.
Klatt stated that Clemson’s program is starting to slowly deteriorate after a highly successful run of six straight College Football Playoff appearances from 2015-20 and two national titles during that span under Swinney.
“That (loss to Duke) was pretty disappointing if you’re a Clemson fan, and I think that’s an understatement,” Klatt said. “Seven points on four trips inside the 10-yard line. That’s never going to cut it. You’re always going to get beat regardless of who you play. And now Clemson has lost three of the last four games overall and four of their last seven, with three of those four losses by at least 17 points. So, it’s not going in the right direction for Clemson, and this is a program that we constantly feel like OK, are they going to get back to this point to which they were a few years ago?
“And let’s face it, they had gone to the mountaintop. They had put themselves on top of the mountain, beating Alabama in the national championship game a couple of times, beating Ohio State in the playoff – they were constantly in it. It was Alabama and Clemson. It wasn’t Alabama and Georgia, it was Alabama and Clemson. And then we’ve started to see that deteriorate a little bit, which begs the question, what happened and where are we at right now with Clemson? They went to six straight playoffs, they won two national championships and then they’ve finished outside of the top 10 in each of the last two seasons. So, we’re seeing the start of the slow deterioration… They didn’t have the players that they normally have.”
As for that slow deterioration that Klatt sees happening, he said two aspects of deterioration are occurring with Clemson’s program – a personnel issue, and failure to adapt to the current college football landscape.
“Now maybe you can just point to Trevor Lawrence walking out the door. Maybe that’s it. Maybe Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence were masking what’s going on,” Klatt said. “Maybe this is analogous to Texas in that you had this amazing team and roster under Vince Young like Clemson did under Deshaun Watson, with great defensive linemen. Maybe that roster then kind of leaked into the next era, which was Trevor Lawrence, or in Texas’ case, Colt McCoy, but then all the sudden that roster clearly deteriorates and then that guy walks out the door and you’re just left like, ‘What happened?’
“The fact remains there has been a deterioration. The question is, how far, and what of those two points of deterioration is taking place at Clemson? Is it a personnel issue and is it failing to adapt? … I think there is a clear personnel issue at Clemson. Maybe that’s the fact that Dabo has not adjusted or adapted as it relates to staff. I mean he kept the same staff forever, and I kind of commend him for that to be quite honest with you. Those men got him to the mountaintop, and then he kept them there for a long time. But the fact remains, they were not recruiting at the same level. Now, a lot of factors in that. But their personnel, right now, is not where it needs to be on the field. They have not acquired the talent nor developed the talent to play at the upper echelons of college football, because that’s the expectation, right. For Clemson, I think that it is, in particular when you’ve got a track record of two national titles since 2015 and six straight playoffs from ‘15-2020. That’s what we expect.”
Entering this season, Klatt thought Clemson was the best team in the ACC, not Florida State. But now, he doesn’t see the Tigers beating the Seminoles at Death Valley on Sept. 23, given how FSU has tremendously improved its roster through the transfer portal and the evidence of that in a 45-24 Week 1 win over LSU.
“I think it’s clear, painfully, that Clemson has both failed to adapt on and off the field (with NIL and the transfer portal),” Klatt said. “Two biggest wins of Week 1, Florida State… (Michigan State transfer) Keon Coleman, he was out there. They did it through transfers. They had one of the best transfer classes in the country. They got the best player off three, four, five different teams to come to Florida State. Colorado, 68 new scholarship players. Basically remade a roster through the transfer portal. Two biggest wins of Week 1. Meanwhile, the team and coach that refuse to play in that game… got beat 28-7.
“College football is an annual thing. You look around college football, and every single year, someone is going to improve themselves to the point where they pass someone in their conference that we didn’t think that they would pass. And guess what’s happened in the ACC. At least after one week, it’s pretty clear, Florida State, better than Clemson, and I wouldn’t have said that coming into the season. I was one of the ones harping on the fact that I thought Clemson and their culture and Garrett Riley was going to work. Nope. Didn’t work. Wasn’t on the field Week 1 certainly. They have a lot to clean up. Meanwhile, Florida State – fast, physical, great players on the outside, really good quarterback. Now I’m going to be surprised if Clemson can beat Florida State, even in their home stadium. It happens like that in college football. It’s a one-year cycle now, not three. Adapt or die.”
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