The last home game of the 2025 season for Clemson is this Saturday against FCS opponent Furman. It is the only FCS opponent the Tigers have played all season. The game should serve as a tune-up before facing heated rival South Carolina next week.
Just like many of these FBS vs FCS matchups, Clemson is expected to win big at home. But, the Tigers have not performed well in Memorial Stadium this season.
Struggles at home
Clemson is 2-4 at home, and have probably received more boos than cheers from the home crowd this season. The Tigers played terribly when they squeezed out a victory against Troy in week two. Dabo Swinney’s team then proceeded to lose three straight home games. They finally got another home win after beating Florida State a couple of weeks ago.
The Tigers need a stellar performance in front of the fans at home, that gives them something to be excited about going into next season. If the team wants the aura of “Death Valley” to return, it starts with putting on a show against the Palisades. Getting two straight home wins to close the year would help continue the late-season turnaround.
Furman’s strengths
On paper, this should be one of the easier games on the Clemson schedule. Furman is typically a very good FCS program. It won the Southern Conference Championship, and made a run to the Quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs just two seasons ago. This season though, the Palisades are having a down year much like the Tigers.
They are 6-5 overall and finished 4-4 in the SoCon. There are quite a few talented players on the Furman roster though. The Palisades have strengths on both sides of the ball that Clemson must account for, if it doesn’t want a repeat of week two.
Offensively, Furman’s passing game is very strong. Palisades quarterback Trey Hedden is completing 69.6% of his passes for 2,788 yards and 16 touchdowns. He is very good at distributing the ball to the weapons around him. Six players on the Furman roster have at least 200 receiving yards.
The leader of the group is true freshman wide receiver Evan James, with 59 catches for 760 yards and six touchdowns. Slowing down the passing attack from Furman will be key for the Tigers’ defense.
For the Clemson offense, it must keep Palisades’ defensive end Joshua Stoneking from wrecking the game. Stoneking jumps out on the Furman tape for his size, technique, and motor.
He’s got 73 total tackles, 20 tackles for loss, 13.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and a safety recorded on the stat sheet. The redshirt sophomore can cause problems in both the run and passing game if he’s not accounted for.
Stop two, win one
Clemson needs a big day for its last home game. It can make that happen by getting pressure on Hedden and keeping Stoneking at bay.
The Tigers defense has to get after Hedden and make his day horrible. While he has passed for over 2,000 yards and 16 touchdowns, Hedden has also thrown 12 interceptions this season.
He’s not very mobile in the pocket. This makes him force passes down the field when he feels pressure. The true sophomore is very good when he has time to go through his progressions. When his clock gets sped up though, he makes mistakes. That makes the playmakers around him a non-factor when he can’t get the ball to them
The Clemson offense needs to let Adam Randall and Cade Klubnik get cooking.
Randall is hot right now. He’s improved each week since switching over to the running back position. Lean on him early to slow down the pass rush of the Palisades. Have him and Klubnik run the option game with Stoneking as the read man.
Stoneking will begin chasing the play instead of holding the edge when the offense is running the ball effectively. This puts him and the whole defense at a disadvantage against the option.
So, the Tigers should run the ball early and often, with some read option mixed in. Then build on that by taking shots with the play action and RPO game.
If the Tigers can execute these things at a high level, there will be tons of fireworks in Clemson for the Seniors’ final showing in Memorial Stadium.