Clemson Football: I did try to warn you

Clemson football took the field for the first game of the 2022 season Monday night, and while the Tigers won the game 41-10, there were certainly mixed reviews from fans. While there were plenty of bright spots (we saw you Antonio Williams), there were also several squandered opportunities on offense.

All I can say is: I did try to warn you.

Last week, I walked through a handful of areas that many fans seemed to think would be best case scenarios Monday night, but I cautioned that we needed to be realistic about our expectations.

Regarding the first area, the defensive line, I think we saw a few veteran players step up and make an impact. Brian Bresee and KJ Henry were making plays all night.

Regarding the other defensive area discussed, the cornerbacks, I think it’s safe to say they had a fair night. There were some soft areas in pass defense but nothing crippling. Jeff Sims deserves a lot of the credit for that. We knew he was a good athlete, and now his experience is showing. He was the best quarterback on the field Monday night.

It was the two offensive areas where we can say in hindsight that most fans were getting ahead of their skis: 1) Uiagalelei was much closer to 2021 DJ than 2020 DJ and 2) The offensive line wasn’t much improved overall either.

There were moments that looked good. The second scoring drive saw a few great plays by DJ, including the touchdown pass that required DJ to move out of the pocket and improvise, finding Beaux Collins in the back of the end zone. This doesn’t represent an improvement, however. DJ made a handful of great plays last year. It didn’t change the fact that most of the time he wasn’t much different than what we saw last season. Most of Monday night was a struggle for DJ.

That second scoring drive also saw some good plays by the offensive line. 247’s Anna Adams pointed out that freshman Blake Miller contained his side very well on the big pass to Collins. Outside of that, the line wasn’t impressive. They weren’t creating any push for the running backs. DJ was pressured the way he was last year. It didn’t feel like we saw any tangible improvement from 2021.

Putnam did a decent job at center, but he had a few snaps that were difficult for DJ to reel in. One of them killed their first drive. It hit DJ in the hands, so he needed to catch it, but it was high and hard.

The last area of concern was the coaches, and I think we need to see more before judging there. My one critique of Goodwin’s play calling was that Tech was very good at taking advantage of Clemson’s aggressiveness by utilizing screenplays. I’m not sure if Goodwin’s playcalling was predictable or if Sims was just good at improvising to take advantage, but the defense needs to figure that out. Future opponents will easily smell that out from the game film.

Clemson football defeated Georgia Tech 41-10 Monday night and while there were plenty of positives, there were some negatives, too

Tackling was suspect at times but I think that’s more on the players than Goodwin. He does need to address it, however.

The moral of the story: the expectations that Clemson would have the best case scenario in all the areas needed were unrealistic. That does not mean things won’t improve. This was the first game of the season, and despite the fact that many people were disappointed by this performance, in reality it was a good victory. As the team gets more reps, they get more experience and then build more confidence. I think we could see this group slowly build towards being the team that prognosticators think can win the conference and make the playoffs.

It’s alright to hope, but we need to be realistic about this team: right now, things haven’t improved that much. Now we need to do the hardest thing for fans to do: be patient.