ESPN’s Tom Luginbill will serve as the color analyst for Saturday’s game between No. 22 Clemson (0-1) and Appalachian State (1-0) at Memorial Stadium (8 p.m., ACC Network).
After doing his homework on the Tigers heading into the contest, Luginbill joined the OutKick “Hot Mic w/ Hutton & Withrow” show and broke down what he saw from Clemson on both sides of the ball in last Saturday’s 34-3 loss to No. 1 Georgia in Atlanta.
Defensively, Luginbill doesn’t see any issues with what he called a “loaded” unit, which allowed only two field goals in the first half against Georgia before wearing down and giving up four touchdowns after halftime.
As for Clemson’s offense, it’s a different story and Luginbill believes it should be concerning that the showing offensively “looked an awful lot like DJ Uiagalelei’s last year at Clemson” in 2022.
“I don’t know why you would schedule App State after the game against Georgia, win or lose, right,” Luginbill said. “So, I’ve spent a lot of time on Clemson, just the last 48 hours. I haven’t even gotten into the App side of it yet. And you know, it’s interesting. Number one, I think that Clemson is loaded on defense. That game was 6-0 at halftime. But I don’t care who you are playing – I don’t care if you’re playing Georgia or you’re playing West Georgia – if you are on the field that often and that much, you’re going to wear down. You can only withstand that onslaught for so long. And so defensively, I don’t think there are issues with Clemson. I think that they’ve got at least two first-rounders on that defensive front right now. The back end is strong. They’re fine there.
“So I started really watching the offensive side of the football, and I think that they’re better in the offensive line than they were a year ago. You look at some of the run game stuff they had, and there were some moments and some flashes in that game where they were effectively running the football. And the issue that I have found, particularly at the quarterback position with Cade Klubnik, is he’s always just a half a second late. Or, he does not identify what is the gimme, layup throw, and just taking it… But when they could not sustain drives and they could not get first downs that second half, it looked an awful lot like DJ Uiagalelei’s last year at Clemson. And so should that be concerning? Absolutely it should be.”
Luginbill added that he also thinks the Tigers need to turn their big-time true freshman tandem loose and let Bryant Wesco and T.J. Moore see more action.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney estimated that Wesco played “12-14 snaps or so” against Georgia and added that “T.J. got in there some as well.” Both Wesco and Moore recorded their first career reception in the fourth quarter. They were each targeted one time, with Moore catching a 7-yard pass and Wesco’s grab going for 5 yards.
“T.J. Moore, Bryant Wesco – potential difference-maker type guys. Get ‘em out there,” Luginbill said. “Because the guys that they’ve been playing with to this point have been marginally productive, outside of Tyler Brown and Antonio Williams. Those two guys are pretty good, could play for a lot of people.”
While Clemson’s performance against Georgia certainly wasn’t pretty, Luginbill pointed out that the Bulldogs would have made a lot of other teams look bad in Week 1 as well.
“The reality is Georgia’s flat-out better than everybody else, and nobody else on that weekend had to play Georgia,” Luginbill said. “We talk about how teams looked and the first impression and this and that. Well, Chattanooga, Austin Peay, Furman, Alabama A&M, Western Carolina – whoever it may be, that ain’t Georgia, right. So, say what you want, but there’s a lot of teams out there that might’ve gone out there and looked the exact same way.”
As for the transfer portal and Swinney’s approach to it?
Luginbill discussed that, mentioning Swinney’s comment this offseason that most college football transfer portal players are “not good enough” to play for Clemson.
Luginbill also brought up the persistent issue of tampering as it relates to the portal.
“Remember the comments that Dabo made about not everybody in the portal’s good enough to play for us? He’s not wrong in saying that,” Luginbill said. “Here’s the issue that I believe it to be. The biggest, most rampant problem in college football right now is tampering with other people’s rosters. So let’s just say there’s a really, really good player in the transfer portal – I mean really good, somebody that can play for Clemson, somebody that can make Clemson better. If you’re not willing to get into the tampering game, you’re not getting that guy. Because before he even gets in the portal, he’s been tampered with, the deal’s done, he’s out, he’s gone.
“So unless you want to make that choice as an institution, as an athletic administration, as a coaching staff, to jump in that pool, then you’re not going to get the highest-end guy. And what’s going to be left in that portal is probably guys that are good football players, but maybe not better than what Clemson’s playing with. So I see both sides of it here, man. I really do. I see both sides of it, and I think there are two clear sides that you can defend in this and still be right.”
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