Kirk Herbstreit assesses Clemson struggles, lack of offensive firepower compared to previous seasons

Kirk Herbstreit believes a lack of offensive firepower is directly leading to Clemson experiencing a disappointing downfall in 2022.

On Saturday’s edition of ESPN College GameDay, the college football analyst elaborated on his point, stating that the Tigers are missing the stars of yesteryear.

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“I went back and I looked, when Chad Morris came to Clemson, the offense changed for the better. It was 2011. If you go back and look at these last two years, it’s their lowest two years of passing yards per game that they’ve had since going back to before Chad Morris came there. Why? You can look at DJ [Uiagalelei] and blame it all on him, but I don’t see — Clemson used to take the field, they struck fear in your heart, because of the play making ability they had on the perimeter and in the backfield.

“Now when you watch them, they have good players, but they don’t have guys that make you go, ‘You better look out for Mike Williams. You better look out for Hunter Renfrow. You better look out for Travis Etienne.’ They have good players, but they don’t have the players right now developed where they will make plays on any given moment.”

Alas, it’s tough to argue with Herbstreit’s point after watching the Tigers throughout the season, but the College GameDay host believes Clemson is on the precipise of a big change moving forward involving young quarterback Cade Klubnik.

“It reminds me a little bit of 2014,” stated Herbstreit. “Cole Stoudt was the quarterback, and they showed loyalty to him all the way through until they said, ‘Man, this Deshaun Watson freshman guy, he’s pretty good. We’ve got to give him a chance.’ Eventually he took over, and it feels a little bit like that with young Cade waiting to kind of become the guy.”

Time will tell if Clemson is able to return to form in 2022, but Kirk Herbstreit believes there will need to be some change moving forward if they’re to do so.

Kirk Herbstreit assess Clemson’s College Football Playoff chances following no. 9 ranking

Moreover, the second reveal of the College Football Playoff standings came earlier this week. As expected, after their loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, Clemson was knocked out of the top four.

The Tigers enter this week at No. 10 after their worst loss to an unranked team in over a decade. Although Clemson experienced a six-spot fall, the Tigers are still in play when it comes to making the final four for the College Football Playoff at the end of the season, according to Kirk Herbstreit.

“They’re hanging on when it comes to the playoff,” said Herbstreit. “I’m just intrigued to see how they handle a loss like that; still trying to figure out the quarterback position. If I’m Dabo Sweeney, I’m not watching these rankings; I’m not worried about the rankings. I just want to get back to playing football up to their own standards.

“I’m anxious to see how Clemson responds after that. That’s a humiliating loss for Dabo Sweeney.

Oddly enough, the other Tigers squad claiming to play in Death Valley — LSU — is ranked ahead of Clemson at No. 7, even though they have two losses on the season. One of them is to a Florida State team that Clemson defeated earlier in the season.

It is just the second reveal of the season, and it appears as if the committee has already made a few questionable decisions. But if Clemson wins out and captures the ACC crown and are overlooked for a one-loss Michigan absent of the Big Ten title or something of that matter, expect for a decision like that not to sit well with not just Clemson fans, but with fans of ACC football as a whole.