Clemson Football Hits Rock Bottom, Sets Historical Lows in Georgia Tech Loss

In a game that honored head coach Dabo Swinney’s 250th game in charge of the Clemson Tigers, the team couldn’t meet the moment. They fell 20-6 at home on Saturday afternoon to the 2-7 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

The loss was the lowest amount of points that Clemson has scored at home while Swinney has been the head coach, and it’s against an ACC team that was at the bottom of the conference standings. Now, the Tigers will be without their chance to make the ACC Championship, despite slim odds of getting there.

Both phases of football struggled to get the team going. Clemson shuffled through three quarterbacks throughout the contest, only totaling 142 passing yards in the loss. Meanwhile, its defense gave up 269 rushing yards to the Yellow Jackets, having three rushers with 50 yards or more.

The offense saw trouble early, mostly due to Clemson starting quarterback Tait Reynolds going down with a knee injury and not returning after the third play of the game. Then, senior Trent Pearman took the reins, only recording six passing yards on multiple drives. Swinney had to go to the preseason starter, Christopher Vizzina, who was well-wounded with an ankle injury that stopped his mobility.

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Georgia Tech opened the scoring in the first quarter while Clemson continued to figure out the situation under center. The two-quarterback set the Yellow Jackets ran proved to work, as Grady Adamson recorded the first touchdown of the game on a three-yard rush. After also taking a double-digit lead, Clemson could only score points on its fifth drive of the game.

In the second half, while Vizzina stayed put at quarterback, Clemson continued to struggle offensively, punting on four of its drives and throwing an interception late in the game to seal its fate. The Tigers could only total 228 total yards, compared to Georgia Tech’s 407 altogether.

The Yellow Jackets averaged 5.6 yards per carry in their win, and Clemson, similar to other games this season, had no solution for defending the run. Georgia Tech’s second touchdown of the game came on a 53-yard flash from Justice Haynes to go up by three scores.

Now, there’s a lot to assess for Swinney in his staff, which was beaten in both lines of scrimmage and simply had no answers for a motivated Georgia Tech team. Clemson hasn’t scored a touchdown in the last eight quarters.

Clemson has to respond quickly, being back in action on Friday night against the Duke Blue Devils in Durham. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Wallace Wade Stadium.

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