CLEMSON – A naked eye would tell you that in a 41-13 loss to No. 4 Miami, Clemson was hardly competitive.

However, unlike the Tigers’ loss earlier in the season at LSU, where they were dominated in almost every area of the game, the numbers against Miami tell a different story than the final score.

For starters, there were several bright spots in the Tigers’ loss, including wide receiver Bryant Wesco Jr.’s best performance of the year — a 152-yard showing that included a made-you-miss play for 55 yards.

Against LSU, it was hard to point to any offensive player as a bright spot, and the Tigers certainly did not have many similar explosive plays.

But even Wesco’s big play, maybe Clemson’s best offensive moment of the night, showcased a microcosm of the Tigers’ offensive struggles. After making the juke move on a safety, Wesco ultimately came just short of a touchdown, tackled at Miami’s 2-yard line. The veteran was also mildly injured on the play.

“I caught the ball one-on-one with me and the safety and then I made a good move and then wasn’t able to get down to the end zone,” Wesco said postgame. “But, I mean I got us in good position and kind of rolled up on my leg but we’re good.”

On the next play, with first-and-goal for the Tigers’ offense, Clemson was charged with a false start penalty, one of 10 total infractions on the evening. Instead of having potentially four tries to get two yards, the Tigers now had to go seven yards to make it into the end zone.

Running back Gideon Davidson eventually scored two plays later, but it took more time and effort than it would have before the penalty, or if Wesco had not been brought down with an apparent injury.

Those pillars–injuries, penalties and abysmal red zone offense–have haunted Clemson through five games. Still, the woes were frustrating.

“Penalties were a huge part of the game,” head coach Dabo Swinney said after the game. “Really disappointed with that. 

However, Wesco, a junior leader for the Tigers’ offense, believes that his team’s failures were less about a talent gap between Clemson and Miami and more about the Tigers failing to execute, like on two penalty plays right by the goal line.

“I’d say the only gap is execution,” Wesco said. “We go out here, put together good drives, and then we just ended up not executing on one or two plays, killing the whole momentum we had going. But I mean, that’s the thing between great teams and good teams. You know, the execution is there. They execute when they need to, and they just make the plays that need to be made.” 

Execution has been a problem for the Tigers all season, as evidenced by Saturday’s Miami loss. Clemson currently ranks fifth in the ACC in total scoring percentage in the red zone, but last in total touchdowns and touchdown percentage from inside the 20.

This means that consistently, Clemson has struggled to score touchdowns and has frequently resorted to kicking short field goals. While Miami and Clemson both made it into the red zone three times apiece, the Hurricanes scored touchdowns on all of their trips, while Clemson scored just the one touchdown and kicked a field goal.

For Wesco, who has been a centerpiece of Clemson’s offensive attack for three years, mistakes are expected, even in the red zone. For the wideout, though,  it is all about how the team responds.

“Everybody’s going to have mistakes, but I mean, that’s the thing about being a great team,” he said. “You got to be able to have a next play mentality. You come out here, you might make one or two bad plays. I started the game off with a drop. But you just got to go on to the next play and then just keep on rolling.”

To Wesco’s point, after a slow start, the Tigers did keep rolling, finishing with 295 passing yards and 350 total yards of offense. 

Now, Clemson will have a chance to right all of its wrongs over the next few weeks as the Tigers enter into their open week. It will provide time to let injuries heal and to work on fundamentals that will prevent penalties and boost red zone success.

“We’ll fine tune a lot of things,” Wesco said. “Also just trying to get guys back healthy. We had probably a good amount of injuries today and so just having a bye week, everyone on their bye week just trying to focus on the details. Even though you got a team coming up, you just have a lot more time to focus on those and focus on the team.”

The Tigers will be back in action Oct. 17 against Charleston Southern in Death Valley.