The Clemson Tigers are still processing the fallout from their 38-24 loss to Texas in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday. But one thing that is for certain about that game is that the biggest winner from a Clemson perspective was junior quarterback Cade Klubnik.
This week, one of the loudest voices in college football, FOX analyst Joel Klatt, had high praise for Klubnik. In fact, he said that Klubnik played like "Superman" against the Longhorns.
“Texas is a tough road environment, and Clemson goes to Texas and they lose that game, and Texas is able to win. And listen, this was going to be a hearty ask from this Clemson team,” Klatt said. “This is a team that I don’t think any of us this year — in particular after they lost that first game to Georgia — any of us thought to ourselves, like, ‘Yeah, they’re definitely going to make a run.’
"So in a lot of ways, this team overachieved to get to this point, thanks in part to Fran Brown and the Syracuse Orange for beating Miami. They get into that game against SMU, they beat SMU, and they really earned their way into the College Football Playoff. And you know what, they played that way. They played that way. Of all the road teams, Clemson gave the best performance.
“If you can’t run the football, your quarterback has to be Superman. Well in this one in Austin, Clemson could not run the football, and Klubnik basically did turn into Superman.”
For the game, Klubnik was 26-of-43 passing for 336 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. That was impressive given that he was facing a Texas defense that currently ranks second in the nation in yards allowed per game giving up just 261.4 per game. What's more, the Horns are allowing only 159.6 yards per game through the air, which is also second-best in America.
Then, there was the fact that Clemson had almost no ground game against the Longhorns. Star running back Phil Mafah was limited to only a handful of plays due to a shoulder injury and as a team, the Tigers ran for only 76 yards on 24 carries. That's an average of just 3.2 yards per rush.
“If you can’t run the football, your quarterback has to be Superman. Well in this one in Austin, Clemson could not run the football, and Klubnik basically did turn into Superman,” Klatt said. “Cade Klubnik is the only reason that Clemson is in that game. At one point in the fourth quarter, it’s a one-possession game. They’re sitting there on a fourth-and-goal to try to make it a one-possession game even deep into the fourth quarter. And why? It’s because Klubnik was terrific. He was really terrific.
"And let’s be honest, kind of happy for the guy. He’s on a homecoming, he played in the Austin area in high school, and here he is coming back, he’s playing against a former high school teammate in Michael Taaffe, he’s playing against a former college teammate in (Andrew) Mukuba, who transferred from Clemson.
“And Klubnik was the reason Clemson is in that game. It’s 21-7 at one point, it looks like it’s getting away from them, and he just kind of willed his team back into that game. And that’s what it takes to be in the game and have a chance on the road against a top-10 opponent. Your quarterback has got to play great, in particular when you’re not running the football, and Clemson could not run the football.”
Ultimately, Klubnik was the star of the weekend for Clemson, and if the Tigers had prevailed, he would have been the biggest story of the first round. But because of his performance against the Longhorns, he should enter next season as a Heisman Trophy candidate and his team will be the favorites to win the ACC and return to the College Football Playoff. Thus, even though the Tigers are disappointed that they were a one-and-done participant in the CFP, they can feel good knowing that the arrow for the program is pointing up because of their emerging star at quarterback.