Clemson Great Warns of Cade Klubnik Pattern That Brian Kelly Exposed Again

“These are big wins, there’s no doubt,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said just after No. 7 LSU pulled off a 17-10 victory over No. 6 Clemson. For a program that has been haunted by five consecutive season-opening defeats, Saturday night felt like a big relief. On the other side, Clemson fans have seen this story before. Despite his talent and strength, Cade Klubnik consistently makes poor decisions under pressure, particularly in crucial opening games. One Clemson great isn’t holding back on this. According to him, Klubnik’s tendency to force throws and panic in the pocket is turning into a disastrous weakness, and LSU took full advantage of that.

In a recent episode of Gramlich & Mac Lain, the discussion on what went wrong with Clemson yesterday ended up with “uninspired” being the word Mac Lain kept returning to. And honestly, it perfectly describes Clemson’s offense last night. Losing to SEC and ACC teams four times in a row at the start of the season isn’t just bad luck anymore; it’s been a trend. Every time the Tigers hit the big stage, the offense sputters. “At the end of the day, I think it’s really frustrating… the offense looked as bad as it did and really confusing to be honest,” Mac said. The stats back it up, too. Clemson finished with just 261 total yards, going 4 of 14 on third downs.

The actual sting? Clemson’s defense did its job really well. “And the fact that the Clemson defense has allowed 17 points given up in back-to-back home games and somehow lost is super frustrating,” Mac said in utter disbelief. And that’s true; holding a Top-10 team to 17 points should have been enough to win. But that’s what makes your head reel and exposes the lack of balance. Cade Klubnik threw for 230 yards on 23-of-37 passing, but he tossed an interception, got sacked twice, and rushed for only 1 yard on 8 carries.

“There could have been things that were executed better,” as Mac stated. Absolutely no lies there. You’re not defeating a Top-10 SEC team when your quarterback’s longest completion is only 24 yards and your ground game totals 31 rushing yards. This is where it becomes really frustrating. Despite all of the offensive problems, Clemson still had a chance to steal it late in the fourth quarter. But when you zoom out and take a look, in their last four openers, Clemson has failed to score more than 21 points, and they failed to reach 300 yards of offense against LSU. That’s, in Mac’s words, is “super frustrating”. The problem? For Clemson and Klubnik, it keeps on happening again and again.

Clemson’s same old story with Klubnik

The story each year with Cade Klubnik brings back memories for Clemson. Although the athleticism and talent are there, the same slips keep coming up. Klubnik’s biggest problem, according to NFL Draft analyst Dane Brugler, was those “panic moments” when he drifted out of clean pockets and forced throws.

The fact that Clemson’s offense was practically in neutral didn’t help either. It was awful to lose Antonio Williams in the first quarter, but twenty-one rushing yards on thirty-one attempts? That puts a lot of pressure on Klubnik, and LSU’s defense made sure he felt it. He repeatedly fumbled and either threw it away or forced something that wasn’t there. As Dabo Swinney put it, “Gotta be better. Gotta be better. He did some good things, competed his tail off, but did not play as well as he’s capable of.”

The worst part is that Clemson still had opportunities. The Tigers drove deep into LSU territory twice in the fourth quarter. But, as has happened in every major opener in recent years, the offense failed. “We didn’t play anywhere near what we’re capable of being offensively. We gotta own that and go get better this week.” The HC didn’t sugarcoat things here and Klubnik himself admitted it: “I don’t feel like I played as good as I can… I hold myself to a high standard.” In the end, talent alone won’t fix the recurring issues. Clemson will have to show up when it counts.