Cade Klubnik says Kentucky's soft zone gave Clemson confidence to win

ESPN analyst Tim Hasselbeck couldn’t believe what he was seeing on Kentucky‘s final defensive drive against Clemson. Starting at the 32-yard-line down 35-30, the Tigers pushed to the opposing 35 before the Cats forced an intentional grounding on quarterback Cade Klubnik to set up a 3rd and 18 at the 50. One stop to win the game.

And then Clemson went for gains of 16, five, 11 and 15 to set up the three-yard game-winning touchdown run for Phil Mafah.

“Kentucky continues to play soft,” the befuddled Hasselbeck said as he watched the Cats give up mind-boggling cushions with minimal pushback, letting the win inexplicably slip through their fingers.

How could the Kentucky coaching staff just watch it all unfold? What is the explanation? Defensive coordinator Brad White confirmed the Wildcats were playing for two downs on the 3rd and 18 conversion.

“We got loose out to the field. We got to play that better,” he said. “It was just a flat route by a (slot receiver) and a stop route by (the outside receiver). No excuses. We gotta play that better. We gotta force them to check it down, make a tackle and play out fourth down.

“… Credit to them, they did a great job of making the plays that needed to be made when they needed to be made and we didn’t in that regard.”

As confused as Hasselbeck and the rest of us were watching it play out, Klubnik was equally confident taking what the Wildcats were giving him. It was the best of both worlds, really. He had seen Kentucky struggle with tempo on film and he saw a Charmin-soft zone in front of him for the game-winning drive.

“Obviously we know that they’re going to be playing a lot of three-high structure, so they’re going to give us some throws here and there,” Klubnik said. “But also two-minute drill, so we have to get rolling, got to get set fast. We kind of knew that tempo was a problem for them coming into it, and I think that we probably got to a little bit of faster tempo at times throughout the game because I think they had some struggles with it.

“I like the pace of it, and I think that that was just kind of naturally something we did. It wasn’t really something that we extra-emphasized. It’s just that mentality in two-minute drills, moving fast and getting the ball set.”

Klubnik called the ensuing 4th and 2 conversion “one of the biggest plays of the game,” a “that or nothing” moment for the Tigers. He also credited the Clemson offensive line for giving him “all day back there” to execute down the stretch and pull off the win.

“It just felt like I could sit back and just dissect and see things I needed to see,” he said. “Just really proud of them. … They did a heck of a job today.”

Feel free to place the blame wherever — coaching decisions or player execution, doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, Kentucky gave Clemson confidence to win the game down the stretch. And that’s a problem.