Clemson Football: Too early to write off Cade Klubnik

Clemson Football won Saturday 66-17 over an outmatched Charleston Southern squad. If you just looked at the stats, you would wonder why anyone was upset about such a performance.

Most of you know and understand the frustrations. Costly mistakes had been the bane of the Tigers thus far this season. They led to the upset loss to Duke, and to Clemson trailing the Buccaneers 14-7 at one point in the first half of the game this past Saturday.

While there has been plenty to criticize, most of the offensive blunders have involved a poor decision by starting quarterback Cade Klubnik. Against Duke, a botched handoff with Will Shipley resulted in a lost possession inside the Blue Devils’ 5-yard line. Later Klubnik began his slide too early on a 4th down attempt and it caused the Tigers to turnover the ball on downs.

Against CSU, Klubnik mishandled a snap, threw a pass up for grabs that turned into a Bucs pick-six, and threw a pass into danger on an unnecessary intentional grounding.

These mistakes have many fans upset. Some were calling for Hunter Helms to enter the game Saturday before halftime. He did eventually enter the game after Clemson was ahead 52-17.

Following the game, the eventual four touchdown passes Klubnik threw didn’t allay the concerns of many Tiger faithful. There have been several who have already thrown in the towel on Klubnik.

It probably doesn’t help the situation that DJ Uiagalelei has played wonderfully so far for Oregon State. He has a 92.4 QBR so far. In contrast, Klubnik’s QBR through two games is 31.7, even though he has nearly two hundred more passing yards than DJU and just as many touchdown passes.

DJU’s first two opponents weren’t very good, but the difference in QBR illustrates the point that he is making far fewer mistakes than Klubnik thus far.

Clemson Football can still have a good offense with Cade Klubnik at quarterback

It’s too early to throw in the towel on Klubnik, and I believe this because I was one of the people who threw in the towel too early on DJU.

I had high hopes for him but that changed immediately when Clemson lost to Georgia. While others scratched their heads trying to figure out what went wrong, I was quickly fixated on the point that the Tigers were 1-2 in games started by DJU, and the only win happened because of a big second-half comeback.

For the record, I didn’t lament DJU’s decision to transfer, but by that time I had understood that I had written him off too quickly. DJU did improve through the first half of 2022 before old habits did him in again.

Klubnik is high-strung and sometimes downright spastic, but that is something he can get under control. Will he? I don’t know. We will have to wait and see, but it is too soon to know for sure that he can’t get it under control.