This weekend, Clemson heads to Chapel Hill to face off against North Carolina, with the Tigers owning a six-game winning streak in the series.
Clemson holds a 40-19-1 all-time advantage in the series and the Tigers are 16-11-1 all-time in Chapel Hill.
The game marks the 300th in the illustrious tenure of Dabo Swinney at Clemson, including his time as an assistant, which dates back to 2003, when he was the wide receivers coach on Tommy Bowden’s staff. Swinney will become just the third member of the 300-game coaching club at the school.
Both teams come in looking for their first win against a Power-4 opponent this season.
5 Things to Watch For
1. Dabo vs. Belichick: How quickly things change. Who would have thought a game pitting these two coaching legends against one another would come with so little fanfare?
Despite the two teams limping into the contest, this game will still mark the first time in 32 years that a multi-time NFL Super Bowl champion coach will face off against a multi-time college FBS national champion coach. It has only happened one other time, with the multi-time Super Bowl champ coming away with the win as Bill Walsh’s Stanford team knocked off Joe Paterno’s Penn State team 24-3 in the Blockbuster Bowl in January of 1993.
Regardless of the circumstances, these are still two coaches who have been considered the best at what they do, and that in and of itself is intriguing.
2. Which Team Had Best Reset: Both teams had last weekend off, and both head coaches talked about the bye week being a reset for their respective teams. Not much was expected from the Heels in Belichick’s first season, seeing as there were about 70 new faces on the roster. Their starting quarterback, Gio Lopez, didn’t even come in until after spring practice.
However, that isn’t the case for Clemson. The Tigers were predicted by many to be a team capable of competing for a national title. With so much production returning from last year’s squad that made it back to the College Football Playoff for the first time after a three-year absence, another playoff appearance was considered the floor.
What we’ve seen from Clemson through its first four games has been anything but a team capable of making that kind of run. It’s been one self-inflicted mistake after another that’s left the Tigers sitting at 1-3.
If there is any hope of getting this thing turned around and finishing the season on a high note, it has to start this weekend. Clemson just needs to find a way to win. Even if it’s an ugly win. Another loss, and this season is likely to spiral even further out of control.
3. Defensive Signs of Life: North Carolina’s offense hasn’t been much better than Clemson’s from a production standpoint. The Heels are only scoring 21 points per game. They’ve only scored 25 total against the two Power-4 teams they’ve played to this point.
All that to say, if the Clemson defense is going to take a step forward, this is the time to do it. The Heels’ passing attack has been horrid, averaging just 150 yards per game. Lopez, who’s been dealing with an injury, is only throwing for 107.5 yards per contest. Even if Lopez is healthy, expect to see backup Max Johnson, too.
North Carolina’s running game hasn’t been much better. No matter who is playing quarterback, this is a matchup the Tigers should win.
4. Will the Real Cade Klubnik Please Stand Up: Klubnik just hasn’t looked like the same guy that had so much success throwing the ball against that Texas defense in the playoff loss last season. Instead, he’s looked more like the inconsistent quarterback we saw during his first season as the starter.
For whatever reason, Klubnik just isn’t seeing it. He misses open receivers, holds on to the ball too long, and is back to leaving the pocket when he doesn’t have to. Make no mistake, his offensive line isn’t giving him nearly the help they should be up front, but he’s still making mistakes no senior signal caller should make. Maybe what we saw last season was a fluke and this is just who he is.
If Klubnik keeps making the same mistakes on Saturday, do we finally see backup Chris Vizzina get a shot? If not, what’s that say about what the staff believes they have in the former four-star quarterback?
5. Just Run the Ball: The run has to be more of a point of emphasis. Adam Randall needs more carries. At the same time, he needs to play less snaps. It’s time to start getting Gideon Davidson more touches. He’s only had three carries through the first four games. David Eziomume only has three, as well.
The fact that no other back is getting any action is one of the major “coaching faliures” Swinney was talking about in his press conference on Tuesday. Clemson did not learn its lesson last year when they made very little effort to get one of the backs behind Phil Mafah ready.
There is talent in that room, albeit most of it is inexperienced. At 1-3, what do you have to lose by getting those other guys some carries? Maybe it even sparks something. Either way, this team needs to lean more heavily on the running game.
Photo courtesy of Bart Boatwright