Three Questions Clemson Must Answer Before Postseason Run
Championship season is here.
While it's unknown when the No. 4 Clemson Tigers will actually put on the orange britches, it is clear that there is no room for error the rest of the regular season or the ACC title game if this program wants to keep its streak of five consecutive league championships and College Football Playoff appearances intact.
Every snap, every practice, every game and every final score matters greatly down the stretch. Clemson has three games left before a potential rematch with surging Notre Dame, and while the competition level won't be as high against Florida State, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech, the Tigers have to answer some tough questions if they want to win a national title.
That's the goal. Even though it isn't on the board in the team room or uttered by coaches and players each week, anything less than a CFP title in January will be a disappointment for the preseason No. 1 team in college football.
These inquiries have no answer right now. It'll be up to the team to figure them out along the way and turn that loss at Notre Dame into a driving point to improve.
Obviously, Clemson needs to get healthy. That's first and foremost the No. 1 thing that has to happen to finish strong, but they'll also need to answer these three questions.
Will the run game get going?
It's crazy to think that a perceived strength coming into the season has turned into a weakness that the coaching staff used the bye week to try and fix. It's hard to believe a Travis Etienne-led backfield is averaging 2.3 yards per rush less than a season ago. Lyn-J Dixon has been a non-factor. Darien Rencher and Chez Mellusi haven't done much either.
The Tigers (7-1) have had just one game of 200 or more rushing yards this season. Through the first eight games, last year had six contests over 200 yards, including three over 300. There isn't just one simple fix. The coaches would've figured it out by now, but the offensive line simply has to be better, and Trevor Lawrence, now that he's back, must provide something in the QB-run game to keep defenses from bottling up Etienne.
Will the Tigers play cleaner?
Let's face it: This hasn't been a great year when it comes to not making simple mistakes. Clemson ranks sixth in the ACC in fewest penalties per game, and the team is just a tick below last year's pace, but the yards per penalty are up by an average of five yards per game. It doesn't seem super significant, but these Tigers are much younger and inexperienced, and the margin for error isn't as great as last year's team. Plus this year's schedule is harder with Notre Dame and Miami on it.
But the Tigers are also having special teams protection issues, fumbles by Etienne, busted coverages like late in regulation at Notre Dame, dropped passes by receivers and even poor clock management in their one loss. All of those things are fixable. Chalk some of it up to youth, and maybe some of these things go away when the team is fully funded, but none of them can happen against the elite teams that make you really pay for mistakes.
Can Clemson develop an elite outside receiver?
This is supposed to be Justyn Ross, but obviously, that won't happen this season. It's been up to Frank Ladson Jr. and Joseph Ngata to take the reins of a position once held by Tee Higgins, Mike Williams, Sammy Watkins, DeAndre Hopkins and many more. But that hasn't been the case in 2020.
Cornell Powell has done an amazing job the last four games and is emerging as a true threat, but he's not a true speedster who can stretch the field the way Ladson or Ngata can. Powell has become extremely reliable, but the Tigers will need more. They need one of those fast sophomores to get healthy (Ngata has been battling an ab strain, Ladson has a foot injury that will keep him out multiple weeks). By the time the postseason rolls around, Clemson needs one of those guys to keep defenses honest, or the elite teams will feast on weakness.
