Slowly but surely, Tait Reynolds is beginning to find himself as the Clemson starting quarterback. After his first career start versus North Carolina last week, Reynolds looks to continue the Tigers' winning ways on into Cal. While he did complete 20-of-29 passes for 215 yards, a touchdown, and a pick, it will be a big step up in competition when taking on Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutle on Friday night.
Although Clemson does have the coaching advantage coming in with Dabo Swinney over Tosh Lupoi, Sagapolutele is an emerging star at quarterback for the Golden Bears. After outperforming Billy Edwards Jr. last week versus North Carolina, Reynolds will have to play even better to propel Clemson to a road victory. After that will be the much-anticipated home date versus Darian Mensah and Miami.
This is not some lookahead game for the Tigers, bur rather an opporunity for Reynolds to get better.
Tait's first start ends in a W 📈
— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) September 19, 2026
Freshman @TaitReynoldsQC completed 20-of-29 passes for 241 total yards and a TD in his first start, helping Clemson rally past North Carolina, 28-20.@ClemsonFB | @ClemsonTigers | #ALLIN | @DrPepper pic.twitter.com/FJIeJ1BcSQ
Tait Reynolds has his next big challenge in beat Cal on the road on Friday
Even if Clemson is now the slight road favorite over Cal, the Tigers should still play it like an underdog. If this team plays with an edge, that could be key in getting to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in ACC play. In the event Clemson is riding a three-game winning streak heading into the Miami game, the Tigers may have more than just a puncher's chance in that Week 5 showdown. It all starts by playing Cal well.
Over the last few years since joining the ACC, Cal has fit in quite nicely. The Golden Bears always play fun and interesting games with their new league opponents. Simply put, Cal is the type of team that can beat anyone in the ACC, as well as lose to them. Their innate level of baked-in variance has them stuck in a good, but not great standing in the ACC hierarchy. However, Sagapolutele may be special.
Cal has not had a quarterback as talented as Sagapolutele since Jared Goff played for Sonny Dykes in Berkeley roughly a decade ago. He has gone on to have a tremendous NFL career with the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lion. Maybe that is the path Sagapolutele is trending toward? Again, he is only a sophomore, so we will have to bide his time in the college game a little longer, as will Reynolds.
What is important here for Reynolds and the rest of the Tigers is to play with a deserved level of confidence. They should be proud with how well they handled adversity in the Georgia Southern and North Carolina games, especially after how badly it went for them in the Week 1 opener at LSU. While Clemson needs to take this one game at a time, no doubt about it, this is a bigger one than expected.
For Clemson to come out on top with a key Week 4 ACC road win, Reynolds will have to take his game up a notch. No, he does not have to match Sagapolutele's brilliance, but he will need to make a few key throws to keep Clemson in this one. It is also important for Clemson to win on the ground with its improving rushing attack, as well as try to find any answer at all on run defense before it is too late.
Reynolds has answered the bell every step of the way so far, so we should look for that to continue.
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