CLEMSON – Peter Woods understands he is far from being perfect.

Like all of us, he is going to make a mistake or two in life. That is just the way things go.

What one learns from those mistakes is how you win or lose in life.

Football, though one will never totally compare a game to life, is similar in some ways. It’s impossible for a player to be totally perfect. Mistakes are going to happen. However, like in life, how one’s response to those mistakes goes a long way in how they fix them.

This is the dilemma Woods and his Clemson teammates face, as they get ready to get back on the football field this Saturday at North Carolina. The Tigers have made a bunch of mistakes through the first month of the season, which is why they are 1-3.

“You go back and look at your mistakes, just like in life,” Woods said. “Everybody in life will make a mistake. When you go back and look at it, most of the time you do not make the same mistakes again.”

However, that’s been Clemson’s problem this season. It keeps making the same mistakes over and over again, which explains why the Tigers are off to their worst start since 2004.

The worst part is it is not like the Clemson players and coaches can point to just one thing as the issue. There are a lot of things.

For instance, quarterback Cade Klubnik is not playing well. He is not confident in what he sees for some reason and is not decisive with the football.

The offensive line has been making mistake after mistake, and the injuries have not helped either. The running game is a one-man show for some reason, while the wide receivers either drop passes or are not giving max effort in route running and blocking downfield.

The defensive line, as a whole, has not lived up to its potential, while the linebackers are running themselves out of position or missing tackles.

The secondary has been soft and is not performing to the level that was expected.

As for the coaching, it can do better too.

Offensive coordinator Garrett Riley has not been consistent in play calling or being original, but some of it, obviously, is due to what is going on with the players. The same can be said about defensive coordinator Tom Allen.

Either way, a lot of mistakes were made by everyone on the team, including head coach Dabo Swinney. The question is what are they going to do about it?

“Right now, there is a lot of focus on ourselves and how we can get better,” Woods said. “I am just trying to get better personally as a player and trying to influence my mindset on everyone else on the team… Right now, it is just about Clemson and how Clemson can be better and respond.”