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Clemson Football: Klubnik needs another ‘clean sheet’ against Wake Forest

By John Chancey

Sep 23, 2023; Clemson, South Carolina, USA; Clemson Tigers quarterback Cade Klubnik (2) warms up before a game against the Florida State Seminoles at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Ruinard-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 23, 2023; Clemson, South Carolina, USA; Clemson Tigers quarterback Cade Klubnik (2) warms up before a game against the Florida State Seminoles at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Ruinard-USA TODAY Sports /
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Clemson Football will face the Wake Forest Demon Deacons this week before they take their bye week.

Coming out of the bye week, the Tigers will travel to Miami and NC State before heading home to play Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina. They finish the regular season at South Carolina.

The back half of the regular season schedule features some very good teams. While NC State and Georgia Tech have struggled this season, those are rivalry games and Clemson’s opponents tend to get up for those games.

Wake is a team in transition. They have good players but they are adjusting to life after Sam Hartman and AT Perry.

Every game is a priority for the Tigers at this point, but it is particularly important that Cade Klubnik gets another “clean sheet”.

I am bastardizing a soccer term there, but it seems appropriate (adjective) to appropriate (verb) it for this purpose.

In soccer, a clean sheet is when a goalkeeper doesn’t allow any goals to be scored on him/her. The term was coined when the scores were kept on a piece of paper. If the keeper stopped all the shots, there would be nothing to write down on the scoresheet. It would be ‘clean’.

Clemson Football plays a tough schedule in the back half of 2023

For Klubnik, the sheet is clean because against Syracuse he had no turnovers or costly errors. Through his first five starts, there was always something to point to that was a mistake. This past weekend, he had a clean sheet.

Klubnik appears to be tough-minded, but another clean sheet this weekend against the Deacs would be valuable as he approaches the bye week.

Not only will the bye be key for the Tigers to get healthy, but they will need to prepare for the second half of the season, which won’t be easy. Clemson faces four opponents who will either be favored against them or will at least have the home-field advantage.

It is important that Klubnik has a clear mind and isn’t burdened with more mistakes to process during the week off.

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