What We Learned From Clemson's Disappointing Loss at NC State

Coming out of Clemson's 27-21 double-overtime loss to NC State, there's much to unpack, like valid criticism, lack of discipline and more.

During an era of six consecutive ACC titles and College Football Playoff appearances, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has defended his players and coaches many times, almost shielding them when he feels like there's unjust criticism.

This is not one of those times. 

The Tigers fell to 2-2 on the 2021 season with a 27-21 double-overtime loss at NC State on Saturday because of an aneimic offense and an undisciplined, injury-riddled defense. This latest defeat has opened Clemson up to criticism that Swinney knows cannot be avoided. 

"With the way we've performed, you're going to get criticism," Swinney said after the game. "That comes with the territory because the expectation and the standard at Clemson, who we are, we're not meeting that. There's nothing we can say because we're not getting it done right now."

Hearing Swinney admit that is a bit sobering for a fan base that's so used to winning those types of games Saturday. And it feels a little late for self-evaluation. That should've happened before now because many of the Week 4 issues have been around the previous three weeks.

So coming out of this loss to the Wolfpack, here's a look at what else was learned, and in some cases, simply verified even more:

Offense doesn't match personnel or system

With a third of the regular season gone, Clemson's offense ranks 121st in yards per game. UMass, South Carolina and Akron are all ahead of the Tigers. If there was an easy fix, the Tigers would've done it by now, but it's fair to question what the staff is doing with the current players. 

Are these highly recruited prospects just not good enough? Did the Tigers miss at quarterback, running back and receiver? Or is the system, as commentator Robert Griffin III called it during the game Saturday, "archaic"? 

"We've been an offense that's been really, really good for a long, long time," Swinney said. "The criticism is warranted because that's where we are right now. That's what we displayed."

Griffin might not be wrong. Clemson's lack of creativity is troublesome. It doesn't have a true power run game behind this particular offense line, and the route-running seems so simplistic and easy for defenses to decipher. None of it works, and not much of it makes sense. It was as obvious Saturday as any this year that the scheme no longer fits the personnel and the Tigers need to evolve. In other words, there seems to be a systematic problem.   

Concerning lack of discipline 

Maybe lost in all of Clemson's offensive struggles Saturday is the fact that it committed 13 penalties for 94 yards. For some reason, the defense couldn't keep from jumping offsides. It extended multiple NC State drives and was a huge contributing factor in the loss.

The only saving grace is that the Wolfpack were flagged 13 times. Regardless, play smarter and win the penalty battle and maybe you win the game. But this compounded a problem that's hurting Clemson every week. 

Clemson's offensive struggles are obviously perplexing but so is the lack of discipline. The Tigers are committing 8.3 penalties per game. Only 13 of 130 FBS teams are worse.

— Brad Senkiw (@BradSenkiw) September 26, 2021

Penalties per game is not a stat you want to be this poor, but how did it get this bad? Swinney said he called a timeout and talked to the defense about not jumping offsides, yet they did coming out of the timeout. He tried to coach it, but ultimately it falls on the staff to clean these mistakes up in a hurry.

"We were very undisciplined and that's just not who we are," Swinney said. "Very disappointing. Nobody wants to do those things but obviously, that was an Achilles heel." 

Changing expectations

No FBS team has ever made the CFP with two losses, so it's easy to assume that the Tigers' already slim chances went bye-bye Saturday. Is there some crazy path for it to occur though? Right now, it's not worth going down that road. 

This team has way too many issues and injuries, which we'll get to shortly, to do anything but take it one game at a time. That's not silly coachspeak. It's the reality. If Clemson doesn't get better, there will be more losses. As we highlighted in this space last week, not creating chunk-yard plays to negate other mistakes is a formula for defeat. Clemson isn't capable of big plays right now.

So the expectations shift from big-picture, staying alive for the playoffs to not losing next week to Boston College, which is riding high after an overtime win over Missouri. Beyond that, the ACC title isn't out of the question. The league is all over the place right now. NC State and BC likely won't run the table. Wake Forest might be the best team anyway. A lot can happen. However, keeping that league title streak alive will ring too hollow for many fans. 

Depth tested by the injury bug

Clemson's had years of good luck when it comes to injuries. That luck seemed to begin running out last season. The Tigers played a large portion of the season without key defenders James Skalski and Tyler Davis as well as receivers Frank Ladson Jr., Justy Ross and Joseph Ngata. 

Saturday, however, was one of the darker days in recent memory for the Tigers in terms of the injury bug. Davis was already out with a torn bicep that's sidelined him for two months. Then Skalski left the game and didn't return. Bryan Bresee exited with a knee injury, leaving Clemson without its two starting defensive tackles. Late in the game, running back Will Shipley suffered a knee injury. 

The severity and health of the Tigers will be updated by Swinney later Sunday, but for now, it's assumed Clemson will be without at least a couple of these players for an extended amount of time. The depth didn't hold up especially well against NC State. Maybe this team is too young to overcome this rash of injuries but expect the staff to pull the redshirt year from running back Phil Mafah and give him a chance in a backfield that lost Lyn-J Dixon recently to the transfer portal. 

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