Greetings everyone! Ill be the first to admit I did not have any inclination Id be doing a game preview this week after the Tigers let the Gamecocks rip victory away last weekend. I was predictably in a terrible mood and found myself hoping Miami would just put us out of our misery by clinching their spot in Charlotte. However, as time wore on and Syracuse came all the way back from 3 scores down to upset Miami, I got more excited for the prospect of another conference are always worth celebrating and always worth the effort. It certainly doesnt hurt that it now also puts the winner into the playoff unlike last year when undefeated ACC champion FSU was snubbed. Does Clemson really deserve to be there? That is very debatable for sure, and of course moot if the Tigers cant get it done on Saturday night, but who cares? Win and get in. Win and salvage some dignity on just a pretty good season that currently features no good is top ten and have earned that by putting together a very good year https://www.clemsontigersfansshop.com/291-Peyton_Streko_Jersey. Their wins over Louisville and Duke, both on the road, trump anything the Tigers have done this season. However, none of that will matter if the Tigers can finally put it together and secure another ACC title. Weve seen the team rise to this occasion several times under Dabo, even when there were problems ahead of this game see 20 and 2022. This will be a very new stage for the Mustangs. That might not matter, but we will see when the lights go Defense vs. SMU Offense: I think I can understand how Alabama fans must have felt in 2015 and 201when DeShaun Watson seemed to have an answer for just about anything their defenses did. Clemson wasnt on Alabamas level talent wise, but a superstar behind center can even the field a good bit. It certainly seemed to me that Clemson was the better team all game long against U of SC, but LaNorris Sellers was the best player and just about single handedly won the game. Clemson had an excellent game plan, especially when it employed the 43 with Sammy Brown, but a whopping 24 missed tackles later, the Gamecocks had won in Death Valley for the second time in a row. While SMU doesnt have a Sellers type of unicorn who reminds you of peak Cam Newton in terms of size and running ability, they have a more complete offense to deal with and a dangerous QB of their simply has to stop the run against Rhett Lashlees offense. Just like his mentor, Gus Malzahn, Lashlees system can be extremely explosive if the basic zone runs are able to function to set the rest of it up. In most years we could be confident in Clemsons run stuffing abilities, but this year has seen some of the worst rushing defense in the last 15 years. Some of it has been poor gap control. Some of it has been some personnel shortfalls at defensive end. The most egregious part has been guys simply not being able to finish tackles when they have a chance to do so. If Clemson can clean that last part up, it has the ability to make SMU one is certainly capable in the passing game. They have some dangerous skill players and Kevin Reynolds is a QB who is playing with tremendous swagger. The Tigers really need R. J. Mickens to be able to play after he went down late last week. Mickens was close to perhaps sealing the Carolina game with an interception in the flat that might have gone for a huge return last week, but that play highlighted how often he has been in the right spots this season. Clemson cannot afford anyone busting assignments which SMU will no doubt exploit for explosive will be interesting to see how Wes Goodwin chooses to defend this SMU offense. The heavy personnel usage will likely mean more nickel unfortunately that usually means Sammy Brown is off the field, despite emerging as one of the most disruptive forces on the defense. T. J. Parker has really come on down the stretch and Peter Woods is definitely more effective inside at his natural DT position. DeMonte Capehart was back in a small role last week, and it would be a shot in the arm if he gets in better condition to play more snaps this week. The Tigers continued to take the ball away with 3 takeaways last week and nearly 2 more. That will need to happen against this week against SMU who have had some turnover issues here and has to make sure SMU cannot get AllACC running back Brashard Smith going, who will no doubt be licking his chops seeing the film of Isaac Brown and Desmond Reid against this Tigers defense. He has the same ingredients as a quick twitch speed guy and those types have given the Tigers fits all Offense vs. SMU Defense: It is extremely unfortunate that Cade Klubniks two main mistakes in last weeks game became so impactful to the outcome. He otherwise played a strong game and certainly delivered on a lot of tough, contested plays during the game. He missed the slant to Bryant Wesco that at a minimum would have moved the chains but more likely turned into a huge explosive play given the defensive call it was against. He finished with a really poor decision to scramble unnecessarily to his right and then force a needless check down that was deflected and picked to end the game. He took that game about as hard as Ive seen a player take a loss in a long time, but that is what I like about Cade and how much he is invested in winning here at had a great year by any standard with over 3000 yards passing and 3combined touchdowns. He certainly had a memorable game the last time Clemson was in Charlotte when he came off the bench to win MVP honors and secure the starting job moving forward Josh Sapp Jersey. His impact is more important than ever at this stage of the season given that Phil Mafah has been a shell of himself since the Louisville game with injuries that have not been fully disclosed. Clemson cant just rely on handing 7 the ball and watching him bully his way to big yardage as we saw in the first half of the season. There is also no real indication that the staff will truly trust Jay Haynes in a game like this unless Mafah cannot go. That means Cade has to deliver as a passer as well as a runner, something he did quite well against South Carolinas defense, which is better than what SMU is bringing to the OL was great last week, and it was a welcome sight to see the main 5 guys back together. I thought the PFF grades were a bit harsh considering it felt like every run except maybe two showed no contact until after the LOS. They would have been rewarded more had Mafah been able to break tackles in the way we know he can when hes right. The pass protection was about as good as anyone could expect considering the type of pass rush numbers the Gamecocks had been putting up. That type of effort should surely result in even better results this WR corps was also very good last week and we saw more contested catches and run after catch from Wesco, Moore, and Williams than wed really seen all year. Its just too bad that none of them were given a chance on that final play. Those three are a handful and SMU will have problems trying to match up with them because I think South Carolina is much better overall at corner than the Mustangs. This is where I think Clemson can really get traction in this game as long as the OL can hold up like we saw last week versus the second half of the Pitt Teams: Clemson managed to avoid disaster here last week but it unfortunately did not matter in the outcome. The Gamecocks came close to getting an onside kick after their field goal that cut it to 1410. The Tigers won the scrum and promptly failed to do anything with the good field position that came out of that scenario. Aidan Swanson had an average performance with a couple of good punts inside the 20 but some shorter kicks when the Tigers could have benefitted from flipping the field more. Nolan Houser and the FG team never got a chance to do anything other than extra points since the Tigers turned it over twice in field goal range once on down, once on the final INT. This sets up to be another pretty equally matched game so this phase could loom very large if the Tigers can take advantage of it for a : The Tigers did a lot of things well last week and it was unfortunate that ultimately the few areas they struggled in cost them the victory. First and foremost, giving up over 200 yards rushing to any team is asking for an L. If Clemson lets SMU get loose on the ground, this will be a loss as well. Cade needs to outplay Reynolds and I do think the Tiger WR room matches up favorably with SMUs secondary Christopher Vizzina Jersey.