3 Tigers That Must Play Well for Clemson to Beat Georgia

CLEMSON — The Clemson Tigers had a disappointing start to the football season last year.

The Tigers were humbled by Duke of all teams in the season opener. It was a sign of things to come in the first two months of the season, as Clemson started the 2023 season at 4-4.

Ultimately, the Tigers turned things around and won their final five games, including a dramatic last-second win over Kentucky in the Gator Bowl.

However, let’s be honest. Clemson is a program that should not lose to Duke, and it definitely should not start a season 4-4. That is not the standard the program has grown to become.

How can the Tigers avoid a second consecutive season-opening loss, and third in the four years, when they play Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Aug. 31?

There are three players the Tigers need to step up if they have any chance to pull off the upset against the Bulldogs.

QB Cade Klubnik

In last year’s loss to Duke, Klubnik was horrible. He completed just 27 of 43 passes for 209 yards with one touchdown and one interception. In fact, Klubnik was not good in most of the big games for the Tigers last year.

In Clemson’s eight biggest games last year, the junior just was just 4-4 in those starts. He completed 182 of 301 passes (60.4 percent) for 1,761 yards, six touchdowns and seven interceptions. To his credit, he did get better as the season went along.

In wins over Notre Dame, UNC, South Carolina and Kentucky, he completed 79 of 126 passes (62.9 percent) for 692 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

They were not great, but they were better numbers. However, Klubnik will have to be great in order for the Tigers to knock off Georgia.

LB Barrett Carter

Carter said he returned to Clemson for one more season because he had unfinished business to attend to. He admitted part of that was leading the Tigers back into the national championship picture. If that is indeed the case, he needs to play better than he did against Duke in last year’s season opener.

After missing a good part of fall camp because of injury, Carter admitted after the Duke loss that he personally was not ready for the physicality of the game. He said his body was not in football shape.

If he thought Duke was tough, wait until he gets a load of Georgia. Once again, the Bulldogs are stacked on offense and the Tigers cannot afford another poor performance from their defensive captain in the season-opener.

Placekicker

It appears from this writer’s eye that freshman Nolan Hauser is the leader for Clemson’s placekicking job. However, that could change in fall camp. Robert Gunn has the leg to win the job, he just needs to be consistent making his kicks.

Last year, against Duke, Gunn missed an extra point, missed a 43-yard kick and then had a 23-yard field goal blocked. It was a horrible display of kicking and it contributed to the Tigers’ loss.

Obviously, Clemson cannot have this kind of performance from its kicking game if it wants to beat Georgia.

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