There is no question Clemson will have its toughest task of the year trying to slow down the Miami offense. The Hurricanes have been nearly unstoppable when they have the ball, scoring 51.8 points per game and averaging 588.8 total yards per game.
The leader of the Canes offense, quarterback Darian Mensah, has put his name firmly in the Heisman conversation with his start to the year. Coming into this game, Mensah leads the FBS in completion percentage per game with an at 88.7 rate He is also tied for the most touchdown passes in FBS as, Mensah and USC quarterback Jayden Maiava each have 14 through the first four weeks of the year.
Tom Allen and the Tigers’ defense are very familiar with Mensah and his immense talent. He torched Allen’s unit in Memorial Stadium with Duke a year ago. Now, the Clemson defense must prevent Mensah from going 2-0 in his career on its home field.
Darian Mensah’s last visit to Memorial Stadium exposed Clemson a bit
Mensah’s last visit to Clemson was in the 2025 season when he was a member of the Duke Blue Devils. Manny Diaz's team was able to escape Death Valley with a close 46-45 win in that matchup.
Mensah had a great day, making a ton of plays when Duke needed it most. He finished the game with 361 passing yards and four touchdowns. Allen’s defense was able to generate enough pressure to make Mensah less accurate than normal, as he only completed 65.8 percent of his passes.
However, the back end could not cover well enough to prevent Mensah from still making some excellent throws, and putting the ball in the end zone four times to three different receivers. The Clemson defensive backs especially had a difficult time guarding Cooper Barkate, who had six receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown.
Good news for Clemson fans is that the defensive backs group is much improved from a season ago. The bad news is, the weapons surrounding Mensah have also been upgraded.
Darian Mensah's choice to transfer to Miami was not without controversy
Duke fans were understandably upset with Mensah’s decision to transfer to Miami for the 2026 season. When seeing what he would be receiving though, it is hard to fault him for his decision. That is not even including the millions of dollars he is being paid to play quarterback for the Canes.
For starters, Mensah was able to bring along Barkate, his top receiver from Duke last year. They joined the player who most consider to be the best wide receiver in the ACC, Malachi Toney.
The 2025 ACC Rookie of the Year has lived up to that sentiment to start the season. He currently leads the conference in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. Toney enters week five with 34 receptions for 564 yards and six touchdowns.
Having a receiver with the talent of Toney paired with a quarterback possessing the arm talent Mensah has makes this offense scary to game plan against. However, last week’s win against Cal might have shown something Allen and his defense can continue to build on and cause trouble for this explosive offense.
Tom Allen must use what he has learned about Clemson to stop Miami
Last week against the California Golden Bears, Allen’s unit was able to keep one of the most talented quarterbacks in the conference from having much success. Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele completed just 55.2 percent of his passes for 119 yards and threw two interceptions against the Clemson defense. The Tigers also limited Cal to just 86 yards rushing.
Much of this was done by Allen bringing pressure up front all night, while allowing his defensive backs to play so much man coverage. This is not anything new from Allen. In fact, it is the kind of defense Allen loves to run and wanted to get to all of last season. The issue was he did not have the personnel on the back end to run so much man coverage, and that was exposed plenty of times.
This season, the upgrades Allen made in the size and speed of that position group are paying off. These defensive backs have all the tools to play more man coverage and allow the underneath defenders to focus more on the run game and pressuring the quarterback.
If players like Ashton Hampton and Elliott Washington II can keep playing at a high level, not allowing Toney, Barkate, or the young receiver Daylyn Upshaw to take over the game, it should allow the front seven to focus on stopping Mark Fletcher Jr. in the run game.
It should also allow the Clemson defensive front to get after Mensah when he drops back. Slowing down this offense and making it a defensive fight throughout the night will give the Tigers their best chance to get the upset victory.
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