WHAT WE ARE HEARING: PREVIEW & PREDICTION FOR NO.4 CLEMSON vs. FURMAN

Welcome to the Home Opener edition of What We Are Hearing!

The Tigers’ offense got off to a rocky start against Tech on Monday night, but they scored 27 unanswered points in the second half, so that’s a great sign! Remember, there are no preseason games in college like they have in the NFL, and they have now been limited to just two scrimmages in August, so it’s not surprising that it would take at least a half of live football before the offense started clicking. However, the game was beginning to feel a lot like last year’s dog fight in Death Valley when Tech made it a 14-10 game in the 3^rd quarter. The Jackets had all the momentum, and the Tech crowd was making a lot of noise. The play of the game might have been a pass interference call drawn by Dacari Collins on 3^rd down, just after that Tech touchdown. If not for that call, the Tigers would have gone three-and-out, giving the ball right back to Tech with good field position and all the momentum. Instead, the Tigers drove down the field and scored a field goal to make it a 7-point game and shift momentum back to their side. They would proceed to score 24 more unanswered points for the 41-10 win! The big take aways from the game were that the defense lived up to the hype, DJ had some great plays and some bad ones but pushed through the adversity and that freshman QB Cade Klubnik could not have gotten off to a better start. There will naturally be many Clemson fans clamoring for a quarterback change after Cade’s debut. Many fans were so frustrated with DJ last season that they will never accept him as the Tigers’ starter. But make no bones about it: this is still DJ’s team. He has the unwavering support of the entire locker room and Dabo’s trust as well. Look, folks, Dabo knows better than any of us what is best for his team. He knows the stakes and wants to win a national title as badly as anyone. He didn’t hesitate to make a change in 2018 when they were 4-0 once he saw and believed that Trevor was clearly better than Kelly Bryant and ready to take over. Trust me, he will not hesitate to make the same decision if it comes to that with DJ and Cade. It’s not exactly the same scenario, by the way, although many make the comparison. Last season notwithstanding, DJ has much better arm talent than Bryant did. He’s just been inconsistent with his accuracy. Even though Bryant had more talent at receiver in 2017 and 2018, he would not have set an all-time passing record in South Bend like DJ did as a freshman, working with the likes of Cornell and Amari Rodgers. And Cade—though extremely talented and capable of taking over as a freshman—does not have the arm talent that Trevor Lawrence did as a freshman. Just about no one does. Cade’s best strengths right now are his athletic ability, accuracy on short or intermediate throws and his moxie. The kid is a born winner, and his time will come, but he is still learning the play book, and Dabo will give DJ the opportunity to show that he is much-improved from last season.

More on that in a bit, but first, some big news! In case you just came out of a coma, Clemson has extended Dabo’s contract through 2031 and given him a well-earned raise. He will make $115 million over the next 10 years, making him the third-highest paid coach in terms of salary. There is perfect alignment and synergy at Clemson, which is a big reason for the Tigers’ success over the last decade, and President Clements, Athletic Director Graham Neff, the Board of Trustees and Dabo have reinforced their commitment to each other in a big way. Incidentally, Neff told me on Thursday that there is an augmented Bama buyout provision in case Nick Saban retires (or dies) and Dabo’s alma mater comes calling. We had a nice, long interview with Neff on Thursday, discussing the contract, CFP expansion, the ACC, Death Valley enhancements and more. You can watch the full 30-minute interview HERE.

Speaking of Death Valley enhancements, we were given a walking tour of Death Valley on Thursday to get a sneak peek at all of the upgrades. Frank Howard Field and Memorial Stadium look great, folks, and ready for kickoff! The biggest change, of course, is the 7,000 square foot video board, affectionately referred to as “Dabo Tron.” When you see it up close, it is massive! It is the 8^th-largest video screen in the country, and they say that proportionally, it is the largest due to its proximity to the field and fans. The ribbon boards have also been upgraded with LED lights, the video boards at the West End Zone have been replaced and the façade has been refurbished. For those that have wondered, I was told that they will not be adding the icons to the Ring of Honor names—the hats for Frank Howard and Banks McFadden and the typewriter for Bob Bradley. Everything looks terrific, though, and I can’t wait to see it in action on Saturday. It will be more spectacular, of course, at night against LA Tech next week. They will have spotlights on Howard’s Rock and the Hill during the entrance. There is also a new Tiger atop the video board. Its eyes light up and its tail wags. They plan to have the old Tiger available on the lawn at Littlejohn for fans to take pictures with at home games. They are also working on a project that will make the Tiger Walk a year-round attraction. It is scheduled for completion prior to next season, and you can already see a Tiger statue outside Lot 5, as well as a rendering of what the completed project will look like. For my pics and video of Death Valley from Thursday, as well as more info on the new fan experience, click HERE.

On to the matchup with Furman!

MISCELLANEOUS

The Tigers lead the all-time series with Furman 43-10-4. The first football game in Clemson history was played against Furman in 1896, a 14-6 win for the Tigers on Halloween in Greenville against the Purple Hurricanes….The Tigers’ last loss to Furman was in 1936. Their active streak of 31 straight wins against Furman is their longest win streak against any opponent, surpassing 29 straight wins over Virginia, which ended in 1989….The Tigers have won 34 straight games in Death Valley, the longest active home win streak in the nation. No member of this Clemson team has lost a home game. A win Saturday will tie Boise State for the 14^th longest streak all-time. The longest streak by an ACC school is 37 by FSU. Clemson is 53-1 at home in the CFP era, also the best such record in the nation….The Tigers have won 24 straight home games against non-conference opponents. The last such loss was to South Carolina in 2012….The Tigers have won 18 straight home openers, their longest streak in program history, last losing to UGA in 2003….Clemson is 37-0 all-time against FCS opponents since the classification began….With Monday night’s win over Georgia Tech, the Tigers have won 60 straight games when leading at halftime…Dabo won his 150^th game on Monday night. He took the sixth-fewest games (186) to reach 150 wins. Urban Meyer holds the record at 176 games, followed by Barry Switzer, Gil Dobie, Fielding Yost and Joe Paterno. Switzer and Paterno are the only ones who, like Dabo, won all 150 games at one school….Clemson has the second-most wins and second-best win percentage since 2015 behind Alabama. The Tigers are 90-10 over that period while Alabama is 93-8. Ohio State is 3rd with a record of 80-10 since 2015. Clemson is also 2nd in wins since 2011 with a record of 132-21. Alabama is 141-14 and Ohio State is 124-20….Clemson holds the all-time record for most wins over a 5-year span with 69 from 2015-2019….Dabo Swinney has the best active win percentage in the nation (minimum 10 years) at .807. Nick Saban is second at .800 and Jimbo Fisher is third at .760….Dabo is currently 12th on the all-time win percentage list but climbing quickly....Dabo’s 151 wins are already the third-most of any coach in his first 15 seasons, but Dabo is only in his 14th full season. By the end of the 2023 season, Dabo should topple Urban Meyer’s record of 165 wins in his first 15 seasons….Dabo has the most active wins (151) that are all with one school. Mike Gundy is 2nd with 150 at Oklahoma State. Dabo is now tied with Mike Leach on the active win list….With a win in the Cheez-It Bowl over Iowa State last season, Dabo tied Bobby Bowden for most bowl wins (11) by any ACC coach in history….

CLEMSON STATUS

The Tigers came out of the opener relatively healthy. Dabo even told us that freshman WR Adam Randall is probably already able to play. He tore his ACL in spring practice, and he’s apparently rehabbed as quickly as Amari Rodgers did in 2019. I saw Randall working out in his yellow jersey in August, and he looked great. He is huge for a freshman receiver, folks, and can flat-out fly! I can’t wait to see him in action, but I hope they don’t rush it. I expect Dabo will save him for their first true road game at Wake, but he may decide to get him a few reps with the home crowd first. We shall see.

I thought the offensive line was good but not great on Monday night. Freshman RT Blake Miller had a couple whiffs, including one that resulted in intentional grounding, but that’s to be expected from a true freshman starting his first game on the offensive line. Will Putnam had a couple bad snaps, but Dabo told me that he graded a winner in his first-ever game at center. They said he had maybe just one bad snap in all of camp, so maybe we can attribute those bad ones on Monday to nerves or adrenaline. I’m not sold on sophomore Marcus Tate at left guard, but for now, there have been no changes to the starting lineup. You can see the depth charts for Saturday HERE.

One disappointment for me on Monday was Ngata. 11 players made a catch on Monday, including a couple by Drew Swinney, but Ngata had just one for 7 yards. The good news is that he came out of the game injury-free. That’s something we’ll be holding our breath about all season, as he hasn’t made it through an entire season without injury since he was a freshman in 2019. Beaux Collins made a couple nice catches, including the touchdown in the back of the end zone in which he broke off from his route in the scramble drill. He also found the soft spot in the zone for a big catch, demonstrating his improved football IQ since he was a true freshman last year. Speaking of freshmen, Antonio Williams was a nice spark, as I predicted he would be. He is going to be a weapon this season out of the slot! Brannon Spector also made a few nice plays out of the slot, as well as his recovered punt to set up the Tigers’ first score. Speaking of which, it was the first time the Tigers had blocked 2 punts in a game since 2007 against the Gamecocks! Carson Donnelly, a senior graduate whose dad played with Dabo at Alabama, came up with the first block and freshman LB Wade Woodaz had the second. Dabo confirmed to me the other day that they will burn Wade’s red shirt and play him more than 4 games this season. I assumed that was the case since they played him in the opener, and it paid off! He will also see plenty of time at linebacker this season because he’s a special talent.

Defensively, Simpson, Henry and Carter were all over the field on Monday night. Those linebackers are fast! It was great to see Mukuba come up with a great interception on the very first play from scrimmage but disappointing that Wiggins dropped the easiest pick-six he will ever see. He had a couple interceptions in the scrimmage in August, so it’s surprising that he dropped such an easy one. I don’t expect it will happen again! Bresee was great, of course, and we saw DE Kevin Swint and DT Payton Page make early appearances on the defensive line. I was surprised Myles Murphy didn’t make more noise, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time for him. Of course, DE Xavier Thomas is still out but will probably be back for the road game at Wake.

I can’t wait to see how DJ plays on Saturday. Let’s hope he gets off to a better start. The Tigers had a nice opening drive on Monday, but DJ fumbled inside the red zone, just like he did against Tech last year. I’m still 90 percent sure his knee was down and it wasn’t a fumble, but they didn’t have a camera on the ball, so the call on the field had to stand. Nevertheless, he can’t be putting the ball on the deck. He also took a bad sack or two and missed a couple throws, but he didn’t throw a pick, so that is encouraging. He made a couple tremendous throws, including the deep ball to TE Davis Allen, who made an equally great catch. He made a couple nice throws that were dropped, like last season, including one in the end zone by Beaux Collins. I expect Dabo to pull DJ out with a big lead either at halftime or early in the second half. Or maybe he’ll pull him out at the end of the first half and then give him the opening series of the second half. At any rate, we will see plenty more of Cade on Saturday to the fans’ delight. He drove the offense 66 yards on his debut series, culminating in a touchdown pass to redshirt freshman Will Taylor for his first TD catch. The play was what the staff calls “Orange Crush,” which is the same rub route that they ran with Deshaun Watson and Hunter Renfrow to beat Alabama with one second left for the 2016 National Title. Talk about a good omen for Cade! I’m hoping to see more deep throws from both quarterbacks on Saturday. We may see Hunter Johnson make his return in Death Valley for a series at the end of the game unless Dabo wants to get Cade as many reps as possible.

PREDICTION

I’ll make this one short and sweet because, frankly, Furman is simply out-manned, and it’s going to be a lopsided game. They know it as well. It’s Clemson versus Clemson and the Tigers playing to their standard that matters. All I want to see is execution, ball security and no injuries (knock on wood). I seldom predict a shutout because they are extremely difficult. All it takes is a turnover and a field goal to prevent it. However, I think the Tigers’ defense may post a skunk in this one! Clemson cruises to a 35^th straight win in Death Valley and 19^th straight win in a home opener.

The Prowl toward a 7^th College Football Playoff and 4^th National Title continues…..

CLEMSON    55        Furman    0

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