The Clemson Tigers are one of the biggest stories in all of college football.
Following their shocking upset loss to the Duke Blue Devils last week, many have written them off and declared their days as a perennial powerhouse over.
FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt did a deep dive into Clemson’s program on his “Joel Klatt Show” podcast. Klatt, like many others, is trying to figure out where it all went wrong for Dabo and if the problem is solvable.
“I think Clemson has a clear personnel issue. That may be the fact that (head coach Dabo Swinney) has not adjusted or adapted as it relates to staff. And I commend him for that. Those men got him to the mountaintop, and he kept them there for a long time.”
“But the fact remains they were not recruiting at the same level. Their personnel on the field right now is not where it needs to be.”
"I think it's clear, painfully, that Clemson has both failed to adapt on and off the field."@JoelKlatt dissects why Clemson has fallen from the mountaintop of elite college football programs ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/iHOHhoY6aP
— The Joel Klatt Show: A CFB Pod (@JoelKlattShow) September 6, 2023
On paper, Dabo is still recruiting at a high level. The team is filled with 4 and 5 star studs, but something isn’t quite translating to the field as of yet.
One thing is for sure, Dabo isn’t flinching.
“If we do what we did offensively (against Duke) for the rest of the year, we won’t lose another game. Simple as that. I’ll sign up for that right now,” Swinney said earlier in the week.
“If you really watched the (Duke) game, you know what happened in the game.. We just self-imploded in some critical situations and, again, you’ve got to finish. It was routine stuff. The basics. The fundamentals. Ball handling. Just some basic, basic stuff.”
He’s not wrong about that. Clemson was their own worst enemy and continually shot themselves in the foot in crucial situations.
What do you make of the whole situation?
Are there deep, unsolvable issues at Clemson? Or are people just overreacting?