Clemson must come to 4 crucial realizations after Cal victory in order to upset Miami

A third of the way through the regular season, and we might actually know a thing or two about these Clemson Tigers. After improving to 3-1 on the year and 2-0 in ACC play with a hard-fought road win over Cal on Friday night, Clemson is playing with so much positive momentum heading into its Week 5 showdown at home versus Miami. While they will enter next week as an underdogs, there is hope.

Clemson may not be as bad as the Tigers looked versus LSU in Week 1. To be quite honest, they look to be as good as they were versus Cal on Friday night. The defense put on a clinic. While it took a bit for the offense to get going, Clemson's defense only surrendered a field goal. The other seven points Cal scored were because of Tait Reynolds' boneheaded decision to not hold onto the football better.

Clemson is far from a perfect team, so these Tigers must come to these realizations to defeat Miami.

These growing pains for Tait Reynolds might be a season-long ordeal

After looking the part in the second half versus North Carolina last week, Reynolds looked like a true freshman for large stretches at Cal. To be fair, he is one. However, the Clemson starting quarterback had a pair or awful decisions running point that could have cost his team dearly. While Chad Morris did not set him up for success with the flea flicker that became an interception, the fumble was awful.

Reynolds is starting to feel more confident about using his legs, but his lack of ball security gave Cal the first points of the game. Although it looked like the ground nearly caused the fumble, it was too close to overturn the call. While Clemson does not play the most difficult of ACC schedules, neither of these plays can happen versus favored Miami if the Tigers want any hopes of pulling off the upset.

Hopefully, Reynolds will exit his growing pains stage under center before the latter part of the season.

Tom Allen has one of the best all-around defenses in the entire ACC

This was the most impressive part of the game for Clemson. Tom Allen's defense only gave up 231 yards. Not only did the Tigers keep Cal under 100 yards rushing, but the pass defense made Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele's night miserable. He did not look like a quarterback deserving of potential first-round hype in the 2028 NFL Draft. It is amazing what Allen has done since the debacle versus LSU.

What we saw on Friday night is a defense playing as a collective. The secondary marveled, while the run defense improved, and the pass rush remained effective. For Clemson to dominate Cal like that was not on anyone's bingo card. The best part about this effort is Allen's defense could be playing with enough confidence to hand Miami a surprising first loss of the year. The ACC better watch out!

Clemson has found its identity this season by playing great defense with ball control over on offense.

Clemson cannot afford a slow start offensively if it wants to beat Miami

If there is anything for Clemson to be worried heading into next week, it would have to be how long it takes for the offense to get going. While Morris should be commended for his willingness to stick to the run, as it usually does wear the opposing defense down in the end, he is not putting forth a great game plan early on to get his unit playing with any confidence. The early turnovers are a big problem.

Because Cal was totally out of sorts offensively versus the Clemson defense, Morris had enough runway to make the necessary corrections. However, when going up against Miami, the Hurricanes can put up points quickly in Shannon Dawson's offense. Simply, if Clemson is down something like 17-0 to start, it might be next to impossible for the Tigers to crawl out of the early hole they created.

How Clemson plays in the first quarter will tell us so much about if the Tigers can pull off the upset.

Clemson is a lot more comfortable being uncomfortable than we realize

This last wrinkle might be more important than we realize. Clemson has been dealt plenty of adversity throughout the first four weeks of the season. While Miami did get pushed around a little bit by Wake Forest last Friday night, the Hurricanes have not really been tested in the same manner as the Tigers have. Clemson seems to be so much more comfortable being uncomfortable than we ever expected.

So far, the Tigers have gotten behind in both of their conference games this season, only to pull away decisively in the end. Frankly, this is a team that is built to protect leads. It is all about getting them in the first place. When a team is being tasked with pulling off a monumental upset, it needs to be in a certain head space to do so. Again, Clemson is not a perfect team, but this group has so much grit.

With Miami prone to lose dumb ones on the regular under Mario Cristobal, maybe Clemson has this?

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