One Playoff Team Down: Who’s Next?

Aidan Birr and the Yellow Jackets sent the Tigers packing back to SC with a 55-yard fire drill field goal as Georgia Tech knocked off Clemson 24-21.

I’ll be honest, I have no clue how anyone can look at this C(L)emson team and still see a CFP contender. Their offense is maddeningly inconsistent and their defense is paper thin with no real playmakers able to step up and take over when needed. To make things worse, their lines on both sides of the ball are just getting man-handled on every snap.

Klubnik showed some flashes today of the NFL prospect he has been billed to be up to this point – the 73-yard TD to Wesco Jr. was nice, granted Wesco did most of the work – but he has yet to take that next step to become an elite college QB that Clemson needs him to be.

The more you watch, the worse it gets.

And let’s look at the Wesco Jr. TD. It’s a nice pass, and Cade hits him in stride, but don’t get fooled by the “73-yard bomb” headlines or tweets. It was a 15-yard cross and Wesco did the hard work.

But all of this being said, I think the real issues with Clemson lie on the “toughness” meter. They are flat-out getting their asses kicked in the trenches this year. Today was supposed to be a game where they could get things right and flex their muscle a bit against an above-average team in GT and prove they deserve to be a top 10-15 team in the country.

It was not. Instead, Brent Key had his Yellow Jackets amped up and ready to play, and they matched Clemson stride for stride on both sides of the ball.

Not really a glowing endorsement for a No. 12 Clemson vs. an unranked Georgia Tech. “But there’s more to football than stats,” I hear you screaming at your phone. You’re right, stats aren’t everything. We have to take into account things like toughness and grit, which can’t be calculated on a spreadsheet or box score.

What about having ice in your veins?

It helps when your kicker is named Birr.