Texas Longhorns vs. Clemson Tigers Playoff Preview: Keys to Victory

The winner will advance to the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl to play Arizona State.

Texas Longhorns wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. (0) runs out on the field ahead of the Longhorns' game against the UTSA Roadrunners at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. Texas won the game 56-7. / Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The No. 5 seeded Texas Longhorns are just a few days away from hosting their first-ever College Football Playoff game against the No. 12 seeded Clemson Tigers at DKR Stadium.

After an 11-2 season in their first season in the SEC, the Longhorns have shown their potential as a dangerous threat for the playoffs, but their first team in their way will be the ACC champions.

After going 9-3, Clemson hit a game-winning 56-yard field goal against SMU in the championship to secure a spot in the playoffs. Behind quarterback Cade Klubnik, who went to high school at Austin Westlake, the Clemson offense has totaled 454.9 yards of total offense per game and 37.4 points per game, both top-10 in FBS.

The Longhorns may look like the favorites, but that won't mean anything when the game starts. There are a lot of things Texas will need to do to beat Clemson, but here are some of the most important notes.

LIMIT PENALTIES

Not showing discipline can really hurt in close battles. The Longhorns experienced that the hard way against Georgia in the SEC Championship.

Giving up 94 yards on 11 penalties to Georgia's 49 yards on five gave Georgia a huge advantage. One of the biggest mistakes was the false start on the Bert Auburn field goal that would have made the game 9-3. Instead, Texas had to move back five yards and re-kick which Auburn missed. Other false starts and holdings were called throughout the game on Texas, turning some drives into long third downs which forced field goals instead of touchdowns.

Texas can not afford to get in their way again when playing teams experienced and deep teams. Most of the penalties come from the offensive side, the defense has done a fantastic job staying grounded and providing the offense with chances to score. If the offense can stay disciplined on the line, the Longhorns should be able to maintain control.

BE EFFICIENT ON THIRD DOWNS AND THE RED ZONE

In both losses to Georgia, Texas squandered opportunities with third downs, going 2-15 in the first, and 6-18 in the second, a large drop-off from their season third-down efficiency at 42%.

Part of being efficient on third downs goes back to my last point on staying disciplined. Holdings and false starts put Texas in lots of third-and-longs that were nearly impossible to convert like the 3rd and 27 in the SEC Championship. Making these third downs hard to convert has led to settling for field goals a lot in the last few games, and unfortunately, Texas knows they can't rely on that to win close games.

Another part of the offense that needs to improve is the red zone. Texas has only found the endzone three times in the last eight quarters of play. Whether it's turning the ball over like the interception and fumble against Texas A&M, or other mistakes, it has hindered Texas big time. Texas outplayed Georgia in the SEC Championship in almost every offensive state except touchdowns.

The run game tends to dry up when Texas finds the red zone. If Tre Wisner and Jaydon Blue can insert themselves early, that could clear up a lot of the third down and red zone issues.

GET TO THE QUARTERBACK

The Clemson Tigers are extremely good at protecting Cade Klubnik and Klubnik himself is extremely good at evading pressure for yards. The Tigers have only allowed 22 sacks on the season, even in their 34-3 loss to Georiga, Klubnik was only sacked twice.

With the Longhorns' strong front seven, it will be a tenacious battle in the trenches, that if won by Texas, will make it a lot easier for Texas to limit Clemson, and to put less pressure on the offense to score points.

It helped the defense a ton against Georgia, who have only allowed 21 sacks this year. They were able to get to Beck and Stockton a lot. The only problem was that Stockton was able to turn it into positive yards at times, which is what Klubnik will be able to do at times, but playing prevent or passive defense is as just a risky strategy as being aggressive.

Getting to Klubnik doesn't necessarily mean sacking him, but sending different blitz packages and putting a spy on him will limit his opportunities and confuse him to an extent that will help out the defense in coverage.

Clemson will put up a fight, and Texas needs to be responsive to every punch thrown by head coach Dabo Sweeney and the Tigers. Kickoff is not too far away. The game starts at 3 p.m. CT on TNT this Saturday.

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