David Pollack names college football powerhouse that’s in serious trouble

After making the College Football Playoffs last season, the Clemson Tigers had high hopes for 2025.

Quarterback Cade Klubnik came into his own, throwing for 36 touchdowns against six picks. While they were unable to get past Texas in the playoffs, there was still reason to believe they could make noise this season.

After three games, that hasn't been the case, and analyst David Pollack says they're in serious trouble after suffering a 24-21 loss to Georgia Tech. While giving his live reaction late Saturday night, Pollack said Klubnik is going "in the wrong direction" and taking the team with him.

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“Clemson’s in some trouble, man. They got to figure out a lot of things really, really quickly. And their best player has to be Cade Klubnik. And their best player from last year, Cade Klubnik, and the way he finished gave Clemson fans a lot of hope," Pollack said.

"And gave me a lot of hope to go, ‘he takes that next step, with those weapons, with all the offensive line experience, same offensive coordinator, in that league, Cade Klubnik goes from really good to I’m gonna go win a Heisman Trophy. And he has not done that. It’s been a regression. He’s been going down the escalator in the wrong direction.”

On Saturday, Clemson fell to 1-2 after the loss. Klubnik completed 15-of-26 passes for 204 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He did lead the offense down the field to cut the lead to 24-21, but the defense couldn't stop the Yellow Jackets from milking the last 3:26 off the clock.

Head coach Dabo Swinney has been in this spot before, starting the 2014 season 1-2. They were able to turn things around, finishing 10-3. That said, they need to show some signs of life in a hurry to believe that could happen again.

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