Clemson Tigers Offensive Line Must Stay Fresh Against SMU Defensive Front

The Clemson Tigers offensive line has had an up-and-down season, but will need to bring their A-game against a talented SMU Mustangs defensive front on Saturday.

When previewing this weekend's ACC Championship game, Pro Football Focus' Max Chadwick and Dalton Wasserman highlighted the matchup of the Tigers offensive line against the deep Mustangs defensive line.

After starting out the season fairly strong, the Clemson has failed to keep the pockets clean and Cade Klubnik upright over the second half of the season.

Klubnik was dropped six times over the first seven games of the year. That number has jumped all the way up to 13 times over the last five games (one of those being a clean sheet against The Citadel). A lot of that has had to do with injuries thinning the line out, but they still need to do better than they have been.

The star passer is actually one of the better quarterbacks around the nation at handling pressure, thanks to his mobility, but that can only go so far.

Blake Miller has been a saving grace over at right tackle this season, only allowing Klubnik to be hit once and not a single sack all year long.

Most of the pressure allowed this year, sacks especially, can be traced back to the middle of the offensive lin. That is a group that has been hit hard by inconsistent play and injury troubles.

Being thin across the line will be a huge issue against SMU, who love to rotate players in and out to keep them fresh.

They had 12 different players had at least two pass rush snaps during their win last week against the California Golden Bears. On the season, they have 12 defensive lineman alone with at least 20 snaps.

As a team, they are tied for No. 11 in the nation for total sacks this year with 37. Five defensive lineman have at least 30 pressures logged this season and four or more sacks.

It isn't a group that even blitzes very much, which matches up well against the Tigers.

The Mustangs front is even better at stopping the run, which has another issue as of late for Clemson.

Star running back Phil Mafah has been contained for the past few weeks. Between their last two FBS games, Mafah has 37 rushes for just 83 yards. Klubnik has been the only real ground threat.

The Tigers will both need to generate more lanes in the run game and keep their quarterback upright against a stout Mustangs front if they want to get into the playoffs.