Clemson’s football team fell in its season-opening game against Georgia on Saturday. In fact, the Tigers were pummeled, falling 34-3. It was only the third time that Dabo Swinney lost a game by 30 points — and the first time since 2013.
In the postgame wrapup, host Kevin Neghandi asked analyst Booger McFarland the obvious question. What happened?
“Well, it’s a couple issues for Clemson and I’m afraid to say it’s the same old thing,” McFarland said. “No creativity on offense. It’s been the same stale offense for four or five years. The quarterback, Cade Klubnik, no ability to push the football down the field. And if you’re a Clemson fan, you have to ask yourself, ‘When are we going to change? When are we going to be creative when we don’t have the explosive players that you’ve already heard of — Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins? When you don’t have those generational players, the creativity has to change.”
Booger McFarland had some criticism following Saturday’s 34-3 loss to Georgia.
One of Booger’s main issues was how coach Dabo Swinney uses (or more specifically doesn’t use) the transfer portal. pic.twitter.com/zajp1aoKw3
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 31, 2024
It’s hard to dispute that. The Tigers were outgained 447-188 on Saturday. Klubnik threw for only 142 yards, threw an interception and was sacked twice.
Neghandi then turned the focus to an area where Clemson has really lagged — the transfer portal.
“If you go back to 2018, they have zero starts from incoming transfers,” Neghandi said. Especially in a sport that is adapting and very fluid, what do you make of that?”
“It’s doing it Dabo’s way,” McFarland replied. “And I think that’s what’s ruffled the Clemson faithful about how Dabo wants to do it. When it’s good, it’s gonna be good. But every recruiting class is not gonna hit on every player. The transfer portal allows you to go in and if you need a wide receiver, if you need a safety, if you need some quarterback competition for Cade Klubnik — to bring someone in. Dabo chooses not to. Therefore, you’re gonna have those lulls in the program. And I’m afraid right now, they have a little bit of a lull.
“No explosiveness on the outside. Defensively, the front is good, but where are your guys on the second level? The linebackers, the safeties. They’ve struggled at Clemson to develop those guys for the last few years — and they’re still struggling.”
