Joel Klatt on Clemson: 'We're seeing the start of the slow deterioration'

Joel Klatt believes we’re in the middle watching the downfall of the Clemson Tigers.

Dabo Swinney’s bunch fell to the Duke Blue Devils on Monday, and it shocked many. However, Klatt believes we should’ve seen this coming, as the writing was on the wall for the Tigers.

“Where are we at right now with Clemson? They went to six straight Playoffs, they won two national championships, and then they finished outside of the top ten in each of the last two seasons. So we’re seeing the start of the slow deterioration,” Klatt theorized, via The Joel Klatt Show. “It was all over social media. The reaction. They didn’t have the players that they normally have. This is something that I want to point to.

“Before I get into the anatomy of a decline, I will say like, when it comes to college football, it always happens slowly, and then bursts open all at one time. I know that those are contradictions, but think of like, let’s say Texas as a great example.”

Evidently, Klatt believes Clemson is going through the same problem the Texas Longhorns went through when Colt McCoy left the program, and he brought up some salient points regarding the similarities.

“Texas was deteriorating from within. Those problems were being masked by guys like Vince Young and Colt McCoy. Mostly Colt McCoy, they just weren’t recruiting at the same level,” explained Klatt. “The program, the assistant coaches weren’t coaching at the same level. All of a sudden Colt McCoy walks out the door and it’s like, ‘Woah, we have a problem here at Texas.’ Well, that’s a slow deterioration that’s happening, and then of a sudden it’s like (bang), there’s a tipping point.

“With Clemson, we seem to have fallen over that tipping point. Now maybe you can just point to Trevor Lawrence walking out the door. Maybe that’s it. Maybe Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence were masking what’s going on. Maybe this is analogous to Texas, in that you have this amazing team and roster around Vince Young, like Clemson did with Deshaun Watson, with great defensive lineman, and maybe that roster then kind of leaked into the next era, which was Trevor Lawrence, or in Texas’ case Colt McCoy. But then all of a sudden that roster clearly deteriorates, and then that guy walks out the door and you’re just left like, what happened.”

Alas, all isn’t lost for Clemson just yet. They could still turn things around in 2023 with the immensely talented Cade Klubnik at quarterback, but they’re going to have their doubters at every turn moving forward, until they prove they’re the same Clemson that won two titles under Dabo Swinney.