Clemson football placed on ESPN ‘Upset Alert’ vs. NC State

It’s been a rare occurrence for Dabo Swinney and his Clemson football program to be placed on ESPN’s “Upset Alert” over the course of the last half-decade.

The Tigers typically have been favored by a ton of points and they’ve typically come close to covering those massive spreads, winning a bunch of games along the way.

However, a questionable offensive showing in the first three games in the season has many wondering just how good this Clemson football team is currently.

ESPN analyst Desmond Howard made an appearance on ESPN’s ‘Get Up’ on Friday morning and he placed Clemson on upset alert.

Howard’s reasoning? The issues in the offense and the fact that NC State has a veteran defense that has already forced six turnovers on the season, an average of two per game.

"“Who’s on upset alert? I actually look at Clemson,” Howard said on ESPN’s ‘Get Up’ Friday. “I think Clemson versus North Carolina State. I think that’s going to be a really, really interesting game. Because you look at Clemson, and guys, they started the season against Georgia. And we’re looking at Georgia’s front-seven against Clemson’s offensive line — and they just dominated them. We think, well that’s Georgia. They’ve got one of the best defenses in the country. But then, you look at Clemson against Georgia Tech, they look the same way like they looked against Georgia. You look, and this is a bigger issue than we anticipated going into the season. We knew Trevor Lawrence moved on and they’ve got DJ Uiagalelei and he’s going to be a great quarterback. He hasn’t played up to his standards. The standards set up by the quarterbacks before him.“So I think when you look at North Carolina State, this defense has already registered six takeaways and they brought 10 starters back from a year ago…Keep your eyes on Clemson versus North Carolina State.”"

Clemson football fans won’t like Howard’s comments, but he’s not wrong in his analysis

I’m not here to say that Clemson is going to lose to NC State, but I will say that the points Howard brings up here are valid.

D.J. Uiagalelei has not played up to the standards of quarterbacks Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence or even Kelly Bryant to this point. There’s no doubt that he’ll get better in my mind, but right now you can’t question analysts who are pointing to the legitimate concerns facing this offense.

It’s not all Uiagalelei’s fault, either. The offensive line has been suspect and the wide receivers have done him very few favors. The play-calling has been in question at times, as well.

As far as what happens in this game, we still think the Tigers will win. But don’t be surprised if NC State is within striking distance late in the fourth quarter because the Wolfpack have the defensive scheme needed to slow down the Tiger offense currently and until we see noted improvement, every game Clemson is going to play is likely to be close.