3 reasons for optimism with Clemson football in 2022 ... and 3 reasons for concern
Goodbye, talking season. Hello, sweat.
After hearing “Clemson’s done!” and “Clemson’s back!” and everything in between for months, the Tigers get a crack at the real stuff this week. The opening day of their preseason camp is set for Friday afternoon, and the Labor Day prime-time season opener against Georgia Tech is just over a month away.
Coach Dabo Swinney’s team is the preseason ACC championship favorite for the fifth straight year and the eighth time in the last 10 years. But it’s facing big questions, too, about whether it still belongs in college football’s ever-so-exclusive club of national championship contenders.
As Clemson inches toward Sept. 5, the day it can finally start providing some answers in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, let’s survey three reasons for optimism and three reasons for concern about the Tigers’ 2022 fortunes.
Reason for optimism: Elite defense
Gone are the days of winning a national championship in grit-and-grind mode … or are they? Georgia in 2021 coupled a modest offense with a dizzying, NFL first-round pick-laden defense to get over the hump for its first national title in four decades.
The Bulldogs were, unsurprisingly, the nation’s top scoring defense, limiting opponents to 10.2 points per game. It’s not the worst program for Clemson — which finished second in the country at 14.8 points per game allowed in 2021 — to lose out to. Oh, and the Tigers’ entire defensive line is back.
Tackles Bryan Bresee and Tyler Davis and ends Myles Murphy and Xavier Thomas lead a deep front four, while linebacker Trenton Simpson and safety Andrew Mukuba (the reigning conference defensive rookie of the year) further flesh out a loaded unit that, if needed, could make up for a lot of offensive malfeasance.
Reason for concern: Coordinator changes
The picture of staff consistency for years, Clemson finally met some turbulence in 2021 as offensive coordinator Tony Elliott and defensive coordinator Brent Venables left to become the head coaches at Virginia and Oklahoma, respectively.
And no matter how much Swinney sings the praises of new OC Brandon Streeter and new DC Wes Goodwin, anyone in college football can tell you that losing the country’s two highest paid assistant coaches — both coveted candidates who’d turned down Power Five offers to stick with Clemson in previous years — could hurt. A lot.
Streeter and Goodwin, who impressed in their December bowl game debuts, inherit Clemson units loaded with top recruits and proven producers. Can they replicate the magic of their Broyles Award-winning predecessors, though? This season will put Swinney’s internal hire philosophy to the test.
Reason for optimism: Run game
Clemson in its 2021 opener: two rushing yards.
Clemson through four games in 2021: 99th in the country in rushing yards per game.
Clemson in an undefeated month of November: 24th in the country in rushing at 213 yards per game, with one instance of 265 yards (South Carolina) and another of 333 (Wake Forest).
All three on-field architects of that turnaround are back in 2022: presumptive starter Will Shipley (739 yards), Kobe Pace (641 yards) and Phil Mafah (292 yards). If Clemson’s offensive line continues its upward trajectory under first-year coach Thomas Austin, that’s a serious point of strength. Shipley, a preseason first-team all-conference pick, should be especially exciting as a sophomore.
Reason for concern: Quarterback room
DJ Uiagalelei, by everyone’s admission including his own, struggled in 2021 (2,246 yards, nine touchdowns, 10 interceptions). Football in its most crucial moments remains a quarterback’s game, and no team is going to contend for a title with those kinds of signal-caller stats.
Swinney’s been steadfast in his trust in Uiagalelei since Day One, and the towering former five-star recruit enters 2022 with a new mindset and a new body (he’s down about 30 pounds). Clemson’s also betting on improved offensive health to aid Uiagalelei, but the shadow of five-star freshman Cade Klubnik is ever-present. If Uiagalelei struggles, how long will he start?
Reason for optimism: Track record
Clemson was 4-3 after an October 2021 loss at Pittsburgh. The Tigers didn’t lose again, turning struggles into late-season success in the form of a 10-3 season that had them one feasible tiebreaker scenario away from another ACC title game appearance. That didn’t happen, of course, but Clemson still enters 2022 on the Power Five’s longest winning streak (six games).
Despite the chaos, Clemson also hit double-digit wins for the 11th straight year, the second longest streak in FBS history. In other words, things slowly but surely evened out. Plus, raw talent matters. Per 247Sports research, 63% of Clemson’s 2022 players are four- or five-star recruits, a “blue-chip ratio” that historically indicates success and title contention. Clemson’s 63% mark is No. 1 in the ACC and No. 8 nationally.
Reason for concern: ACC uptick
Yes, Clemson was the 2022 ACC championship pick by league media. But voters have never been less certain during the Tigers’ current run as preseason favorites.
N.C. State, which beat Clemson in Raleigh last season, nabbed 38 championship votes; reigning Atlantic Division champion Wake Forest got four. Both picked up divisional title votes, too.
Clemson duels those schools in consecutive weeks — playing at Wake Forest on Sept. 24, hosting N.C. State on Oct. 1 — and a slip-up could derail their division title hopes (and thus their ACC title hopes and their College Football Playoff hopes and … well, you get it). The Tigers also close their ACC slate with Coastal Division favorite Miami (eight preseason ACC champion votes!) on Nov. 19. And nobody’s forgetting their Nov. 5 prime-time rendezvous with Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
This story was originally published August 3, 2022 at 6:01 AM.
