Coming off an underwhelming opening-game loss at home to LSU, No. 8 Clemson and quarterback Cade Klubnik will look to rebound Saturday afternoon against visiting Troy.
While there is no shame in losing 17-10 to a loaded LSU team that jumped six spots in the rankings this week to No. 3, Clemson is eager to show improvement, especially on offense, against a Sun Belt foe.
“Everybody can just start throwing mud now. Just bring it on,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said in an animated press conference on Tuesday. “Tell everybody we suck. Coaches suck. Cade stinks. Start writing that again.”
If somebody’s actually making a list to cite, LSU shut down Clemson’s rushing attack on Saturday night. Swinney’s Tigers managed just 31 yards on 20 carries. Take away LSU’s pair of sacks and it was 53 yards on 18 carries, which sounds a little less awful.
Becoming one-dimensional on offense limited the effectiveness of preseason Heisman candidate Klubnik, who in a heavy rush completed 19 of 38 passes for 230 yards and no touchdowns, with one interception.
“He had a bad day,” Swinney said. “Ain’t no other way to say it. If (No.) 2 ain’t a dude, we ain’t winning. Dudes gotta be dudes. This is big boy football.”
With Clemson’s offense sputtering, LSU dominated possession as it held the ball for more than 37 minutes and wore down the Tigers’ defense. After keeping LSU out of the end zone in the first half, Clemson surrendered two touchdown drives after the break.
The Clemson defense’s mission against Troy is well-defined. The Tigers will be focused on running back Tae Meadows, who produced 186 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries in a 38-20 Week 1 victory over Nicholls.
Meadows carried just four times in the previous two seasons at Troy, but he appears ready to take the mantle in a program that has featured a 1,000-yard rusher each of the last three years.
“You better want to tackle,” Swinney said. “It’s gonna be a physical football game. It’s just how they play the game.”
After winning the Sun Belt in 2022 and 2023, Troy slumped to 4-8 in its first season under Gerad Parker last year — though the Trojans showed progress by winning three of their last four games.
Quarterback Goose Crowder, a former backup at West Virginia who flashed strong numbers at Troy early last season before incurring a season-ending injury, threw three touchdown passes with no interceptions against FCS foe Nicholls.
Against Clemson, Parker wants to see more instinctive, aggressive line play.
“In order for us to have success this week, we better come off the football and think less and play through stuff faster,” he said.
Clemson captured both previous meetings with victories at home in 2011 and 2016 — though Swinney pointed out both games were competitive.
Said Parker about Clemson: “The entire roster is filled with NFL players. They have as good a defense as I’ve seen on tape in my career.”