Clemson HC Dabo Swinney's message to Cade Klubnik that sparked CFP trip
Today at 10:27 PM
After an up-and-down season that saw it operate in the shadows for most of the fall, Clemson football is back in the College Football Playoff. Dabo Swinney and company are back on top of the ACC and earned the final automatic berth into the 12-team bracket, marking the first time that they have played in the CFP since 2020.
The Tigers are led by quarterback Cade Klubnik, a former elite recruit who many Clemson fans expected to become the next great QB in line after Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. Klubnik looked the part right away, winning the MVP of the ACC Championship game as a freshman in 2022.
2023 didn’t go as planned for Klubnik, who struggled for a lot of the season as Clemson failed to meet expectations. However, Swinney believed in Klubnik and stuck with him heading into this season, via David Hale of ESPN.
“I never had any doubt with Cade,” Swinney said, per Hale. “If I did, I would’ve gone and taken a big-time portal guy. But I believe in Cade. He’s a worker, he’s gifted, he’s smart. He deserves all the credit because he’s really grown.”
The message did wonders for Klubnik and restored his confidence coming into this season.
“After a season you wouldn’t ever dream of having, to have somebody like that come and tell you he still believes in you and trusts in you, that means a lot,” Klubnik said, per Hale.
Klubnik played some of his best football in the ACC Championship Game to secure a CFP bid for Clemson, finishing 24-for-41 with 262 yards and four touchdown passes.
Clemson has work to do to knock off Texas
Clemson is at a talent disadvantage in the first round of the College Football Playoff when it takes on Texas. The Tigers will also be working against a hostile Longhorns crowd in Austin on Saturday, so pulling off the upset will be a difficult task.
It will likely be the most difficult for Clemson up front against a Texas team that has a ton of quality bodies on both sides of the ball. Add in the possibility that superstar left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. could make it back for this game, and Clemson will have problems consistently making its presence felt at the line of scrimmage.
The best path for Clemson to get into this game is to force some turnovers by Quinn Ewers. Ewers has been very inconsistent lately and is prone to spraying a throw here and there, so Clemson needs to take advantage of that. If the Tigers can somehow force Texas into obvious passing situations, they will have some chances to make a few huge plays on the defensive side of the ball.
On the other side, Klubnik has to avoid those turnovers. He played a very clean game against SMU, and will need a similar effort on Saturday against an elite Texas defense with a ball-hawking secondary.
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