The 2025 college football season has not been kind to Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers thus far.
A team that returned more players than anyone among last year’s College Football Playoff participants and, to the naked eye, has as much first-round NFL Draft talent as anyone on its roster, Clemson came into the season with its highest expectations in years. What’s followed has been a complete letdown.
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The Tigers fell to 1-2 after a 24-21 loss in their ACC opener at Georgia Tech on Saturday and have now lost four of their last six games dating back to last season. Clemson has gone from being ranked No. 4 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll to being unranked after just three weeks.
On the Monday edition of his podcast, “The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast,” Fox Sports’ lead analyst put it simply: “Clemson is not a good football team right now.”
Among the biggest reasons why is that senior quarterback Cade Klubnik seems to have regressed after a stellar junior season in 2024 in which he threw for 3,639 yards and 36 touchdowns to only five interceptions.
“This is a team that offensively is struggling,” Klatt said. “Klubnik hasn’t even been close to being a good quarterback, much less the best quarterback in college football.”
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Klatt noted that most everyone around the sport had considered Klubnik one of the top QBs in the nation entering 2025. But through three games, Klubnik is averaging just 211 yards per game. He’s thrown three interceptions, and he had two costly turnovers in Saturday’s loss in Atlanta.
Klubnik’s fumble on Clemson’s first drive led to a Georgia Tech field goal, and his interception deep in Yellow Jackets territory to open the third quarter cost the team a prime opportunity to score.
“A guy that we thought was going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the country,” Klatt said of Klubnik. “What is going on? This is not a good offensive football team, and it’s not even particularly close.”
Klatt noted that the Tigers currently rank 112th in FBS in offensive points scored at under 20 points per game following Saturday’s loss in Atlanta.
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He believes the problems for Klubnik and the offense run far deeper than senior wide receiver Antonio Williams having been absent for essentially all three games after suffering a hamstring injury early on in the Tigers’ 17-10 loss to LSU in Week 1.
“That is not a singular player issue, so for all the people just ranting about (losing) Antonio Williams, ‘our best wide receiver,’ it cannot just be your wide receiver when you’re 112th in scoring. Something is wrong with Clemson’s offense. We have seen this, and I thought they had fixed this at a point last year when they started playing well down the stretch, even in a loss at Texas in the College Football Playoff.
“There is something very wrong offensively with Clemson, and it’s cost them now twice. It can’t just be Antonio Williams. It’s got to be something bigger than that.”
Klatt didn’t say as much, but at least part of the blame has to fall on offensive coordinator Garrett Riley. Clemson is in Year 3 under Riley, and as mentioned in our takeaways from Saturday’s loss, his offensive game plan this season has been lackluster at best.
Klatt pointed to the offensive line and noted that the Tigers returned four of five starters from last season, including left tackle Blake Miller and center Ryan Linthicum. Miller made the preseason Outland Trophy watch list and Linthicum was on the Rimington Trophy watch list.
“The offensive line had experience coming back,” Klatt said. “How are they not better on the offensive line? I don’t understand this. I really don’t.”
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Klatt praised Georgia Tech for its win and noted that the Yellow Jackets deserved the victory after Haynes King’s performance, which included 20-of-28 passing for 211 yards and 25 carries for another 103. Georgia Tech converted eight of 15 third-down attempts.
“Maybe Haynes King should be considered in the Heisman conversation,” Klatt said. “Dude’s an absolute stuff.”
Clemson will host the Syracuse Orange (2-1) at noon ET Saturday. The game will be televised on ESPN.
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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Clemson football offense, Cade Klubnik have Joel Klatt baffled
