Game 9 Preview: Clemson Travels to Face Virginia Tech

Unfortunately, my run of having a pretty good feel for how these games are going to go hit a major brick wall last weekend. I fully expected Louisville to offer a higher level of competition than what the Tigers had been facing since UGA, but instead of the Tigers rising to that occasion and showing true quality, we got an absolute dud performance in really all three phases in a miserable and season-altering defeat.

I won’t use this preview to belabor the previous game, but it is clear the Tigers have weaknesses that have not been fixed since UGA. Three of the four remaining opponents have sufficient ability to punish this team if those weaknesses are not shored up, at least enough to not be overcome by what this team can do well. I’ll point out what those are (as if they aren’t pretty obvious) as we look at both sides of the ball and the special teams matchups.

This certainly feels like a major crossroads moment for this year’s team. They rebounded admirably after the disastrous second half against UGA. Tiger fans have to hope a similar rebound is in store in Blacksburg so the positive momentum this program had seemed to have generated won’t be flushed down the toilet.

Clemson Defense vs. VT Offense: I’m starting with the defensive matchup for this game because it now seems more pivotal than ever. For the most part, even the last three seasons that fell short of the standard during the 2015-2020 seasons featured Clemson teams whose defense would give them a good chance to win if the offense and special teams could simply be adequate. Well, the Clemson defense looked a lot like the unit that got hammered in South Bend in 2022 on the same exact weekend when Louisville mashed them. To make matters worse, this time it was in Death Valley and not on the road.

The defense has two major issues that have to get shored up ASAP. The first is the weakness at the safety spot opposite R.J. Mickens. UGA ruthlessly exploited that after halftime in Atlanta. Louisville was able to attack Kylon Griffin in space as well. Virginia Tech has an excellent running attack and a back as explosive as Brown who torched the Tigers for 150 yards. VT also has a much more effective QB run game to deal with.

Barrett Carter just made the next cut for the Butkis Award, but he has not played up to that standard nearly as much as fellow starter Wade Woodaz. Carter is a great talent and at times he’s been a great player to match it, but last week was not it. It is imperative that some of the real difference making talent this defense still possesses raise their game to help offset some who are just not on that level yet (or maybe ever). It is hard to know without really digging into an All-22 film and knowing every defensive call how much Carter was either too aggressive or not aggressive enough, but the backside gap he should have covered got run through multiple times last weekend. Clemson’s paltry 3 TFLs last week were all by corners or safeties, further showing how poorly the front seven affected things against the Cardinals. VT is no doubt licking their chops to run the ball at this defense and Coach Swinney has all but done some of the trash talking for them in his media comments this week. Carter needs to get back to being the force he is capable of and at least match Woodaz’s production and accountability on assignments. Nobody is perfect but an All-American should not be posting losing PFF grades.

As for Griffin, he just isn’t nearly as adept at fitting the run and being physical that way as he is in covering space. His open field tackling has left a lot to be desired and teams are hunting ways to get him one on one with somebody at the second or third level. Tyler Venables lacks the range to be the answer there. Khalil Barnes has had to go back to nickel to keep that position from getting exploited. Either Griffin steps it up or hopefully someone else on the roster will show they can be more of a solid option. My guess is there has been plenty of work to try to see about that during this week of preparation. Shelton Lewis’s injury has made it even more unlikely they can move Barnes back and use someone else at nickel.

Finally, the Tigers simply cannot afford to not have Peter Woods on the field against competent offenses. The drop off from him to the next guy is huge. Cade Denhoff was seemingly invisible. Guys like Hoffler and Lawson are much better pass rushers than run stoppers at this stage of their development. The true breaking point of the Louisville game came with a stretch play attacking where Woods would have been and Brown hit the touchdown run that put the game on ice. There may not be answers other than praying Woods can get healthy and stay that way. Perhaps they can move Parker around more or help mitigate that side with the defensive calls (such as when they blitzed Mickens to blow up the stretch play for one of the few TFLs of the game). However, you certainly don’t want to bank on blitzing to win because of what that exposes you to when teams are ready for it.

That said, if last year taught me anything, it is that you just never really know with young folks. I was convinced the DL and OL I saw get embarrassed at Miami was going to get mashed by a very good Notre Dame team only to see both units play their best games of the year in that upset win. I’m not banking on that this time around, but Clemson fans certainly have to hope the fire and brimstone coming down on this defense from on high will result in a much more inspired performance. VT is going to try to ram that ball down Clemson’s throat. If RB Bhaushul Tuten is back from injury, the Hokies will be dangerous on the ground.

Clemson Offense vs. VT Defense: Louisville decided that “death by a thousand paper cuts” was how they wanted to play Clemson. Clemson made multiple mistakes from penalties to missed assignments that rendered many of the 101 offensive snaps ineffective. I give a lot of credit to the Cardinals for really not making any major mistakes on defense that the Tigers could benefit from for an easy score or explosive play. Clemson had to earn every single yard and just couldn’t impose its will the way they needed to against that type of defensive approach. The Cardinals tackled in space nearly as well as UGA did in the first week of the season.

VT has an aggressive defensive scheme but so did Louisville, who adjusted it to keep things in front of them a lot more than they had been doing. Clemson’s first down production was abysmal last week and the offensive line played its worst game of the season. Clemson fans again must hope this was just a bad day at the office and not an indicator of a lingering problem with a unit that had performed admirably up to that point.

It was clear that the script the staff had to attack Louisville early was upended by how the Cardinals decided to deploy their defense. The press-bail coverages they used early should have warranted comeback patterns or double moves versus the usual fades, posts, and slants that you typically attack press coverage with. Virginia Tech has perhaps the best edge rusher in the league and one of the best in the nation, so the OL is going to be in the spotlight this weekend against that.

Special Teams: If you read my previews, you know I always state how upsets almost always feature something in this phase. Well, look no further than last weekend when the blocked field goals, particularly the first one, were incredibly pivotal in the outcome of the game. It really is inexcusable how the issues that led to the blocks in Tallahassee happened again in nearly the identical fashion. Once Peter Woods went out of the game, the FG unit seemed lost on its left side just like against FSU. Clemson also had no momentum gaining plays in any part of the kicking game once again. Those conservative results aren’t that big a deal when you are winning in the other phases, but the team really could of have used a boost somewhere to try to flip the momentum and just failed miserably to do so.

VT, of course, made its name in its Frank Beamer heyday with elite special teams play. Beamer is gone, but his successors have certainly tried to keep that part of what they do alive. I think any coach preparing for Clemson is licking their chops to attack this phase, so it is up to the Tiger coaching to get things cleaned up. It certainly would be nice if they could figure out how to spring a return or block a kick themselves.

Overall: There were some things to be encouraged about coming out of the UGA loss. As bad as it was, we saw some dominant play at times from the Tiger defense and we saw much improved offensive line play against a very strong UGA front 7. Conversely, it is hard to have much encouragement coming out of what we saw last weekend. The team wasn’t ready to play, plain and simple, despite an electric night atmosphere in Death Valley. That giant helping of humble pie will hopefully spawn a renewed focus and vigor of a team that most likely saw any hope of the ACC title and the playoffs circle the drain. SMU and Miami have had their share of very fortunate moments to be sure, but the bottom line is they found a way to win when they were not playing complete football. That is what champions do. It is very hard for me to forecast a win or a loss in this one, but I expect a very tight game that will come down to the fourth quarter. Prove me wrong Tigers.

VT 33-Clemson 31