MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Clemson running back Will Shipley’s helmet was nowhere in sight as he meandered off the field into the tunnel, his back covered in grass stains.
Freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik, who was 34-0 as a starting quarterback in 6A Texas high school football, craned his neck skyward to peer through the open roof of Hard Rock Stadium as the sting of the 31-14 loss to No. 6 Tennessee set in.
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On the field, the Volunteers celebrated their first 11-win season since 2001 by tossing oranges from the trophy and spraying water on each other from bottles, some of which sprayed onto Clemson players making their way off the field.
“This s— is f—ing embarrassing!” one Clemson player yelled to no one in particular as he exited the field.
It was Clemson’s sixth double-digit loss in six seasons but second in six games, and a program that won at least 14 games in four of five seasons from 2015-19 has now failed to surpass 12 wins in three consecutive seasons.
“Incredibly disappointing,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said of the loss.
For 60 minutes, Tennessee was the best version of itself, harassing Klubnik with its signature make-or-break blitzing defense, sacking him four times and pressuring him on more dropbacks than it didn’t while limiting the running game to just 3.6 yards a carry, its third-lowest average of the season.
Clemson, with an offense that ranks second nationally in red zone scoring percentage and fourth nationally in red zone touchdown percentage, got inside Tennessee’s 40-yard on six of its seven first-half drives and had just three points to show for it.
“That was the most frustrating thing of the night,” offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said.
The Tigers’ fake field goal on the opening drive went awry and senior kicker B.T. Potter, who missed just three of his 21 field goals this season, missed three more in the first half. And Klubnik, in the final seconds of the first half, let time slip away with a pair of ill-advised scrambles. The final one ended the half and left Swinney exasperated on the sidelines as the Tigers trotted into the locker room trailing 14-3.
With no timeouts remaining and inside Tennessee's 15-yard line, Clemson freshman QB Cade Klubnik takes off running before getting pummeled as the 2nd-quarter clock runs out.
Dabo Swinney was not happy. 🏈 #OrangeBowl pic.twitter.com/E4vJwmjKAK
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) December 31, 2022
Tennessee’s defense, which gave up nine touchdowns on 10 drives in a South Carolina loss that imploded its College Football Playoff hopes, rallied to surrender just three points in the next six quarters. And for all of Clemson’s failures deep in Tennessee territory on Friday, the Vols’ defense had plenty to do with the Tigers’ setting for — and missing — field goals.
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“I felt like we had a point to prove and we proved it,” defensive end Byron Young said of the defense. “Every game, nothing was good enough. Every game we won, still the defense. We lost the game? Defense.”
Plenty of people will be talking about Tennessee’s defense in its season finale, but the tenor of the conversation couldn’t be more different than it was after the shocking South Carolina debacle.
“We obviously identified things within our package that we (thought) could take advantage of what they do,” defensive coordinator Tim Banks said.
The Vols overloaded Clemson’s offensive line at times, creating tough-to-predict blitzes for Klubnik pre-snap and missed blocking assignments post-snap.
The confusion left Klubnik scrambling, off schedule and trying to make a play while sprinting away from multiple defenders. It led to his first of two interceptions on the night when he was forced into a desperation jump pass on fourth down. Tamarion McDonald hauled in the jump ball, and Tennessee’s sideline exploded. With a 14-point lead and just 7:37 to play, the party was on.
“You don’t stumble into 10 wins. We won a ton of games, and our confidence wasn’t shaken one iota (by the South Carolina loss),” Banks said. “We bounced back.”
If the days ahead in Death Valley are to be truly great, Klubnik will need to be truly great. In his bowl debut, he wasn’t. And neither was Clemson, which will be kicking itself for all the missed kicks but won’t be kicking Potter while he’s down.
“It’s frustrating,” center Will Putnam said. “It’s hard to just point the finger at one guy, the other guy or whatever. But it hurts when you don’t score.”
For Clemson, tough questions await. Klubnik showed flashes but the program has clearly slipped from the sport’s elite to merely very good. ACC titles won’t satisfy a program that’s raised expectations to the highest possible level.
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And qualifying for an expanded Playoff loses its luster when a program has qualified for a four-team version six times — more than anyone in the sport but Alabama — and won it twice.
“We’re 11-3. I wish we were undefeated. But we won the league seven out of the last eight years. That’s happened one other time and that was in the ’70s by Alabama, so we’ve been pretty consistent and we’ll continue to be consistent and keep trying to be undefeated,” Swinney said. “Disappointing tonight for sure, but nobody out there has higher expectations than we have, I promise you that. We’ll keep battling, working. A lot of great days ahead.”
(Photo of Tennessee’s Aaron Beasley sacking Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik: Jasen Vinlove / USA Today)
