When Louisville Cardinals and their freshman RunningBack Isaac Brown were entering Memorial Stadium in Clemson. No one had expected the events to transpire the way they did in that game. As Isaac Brown started to cut through the Clemson defense and started to gain yards, no one in Clemson’s defense had an answer for him. He ended the game with 151 rushing yards as Clemson suffered a beating by 33-21. They had plunged into the heart of the Death Valley and eked out an upset. What went wrong for Clemson?

Well, to be precise, everything. Imagine a team that had won the national championships twice in the playoff era. Now also imagine the same team conceding 210 rushing yards that also included 6 plays of more than 10 yards against Louisville. This is Clemson Tigers for you in the 2024 season. Make no mistake, Dabo Swinney’s defensive woes were not just limited to the Louisville game; it actually defined his season. Here’s how.

Swinney’s team finished second last in total rushing yards conceded per game in their conference. They conceded 160.6 yards per game and had a total of 2,249 rushing yards conceded in total. In the country, they are ranked 59th in rushing defense and are tied at 61st in yards allowed per carry. To give perspective to their debacles, their run defense was the worst since 1975, as they allowed 4.7 yards per rush, their worst since 1975. Jordan Bowman of ‘Clemson at the Voice of College Football’ hosted an episode in which he discussed their run defense problem and provided a grim reality.

“We have a problem at the defensive end we did have a problem at the defensive end so I do want to say that was legitimately a weakness. Especially in the Run game outside of TJ Parker and especially when you had to move Peter Wood back inside you did not get good play“. The host is rightly talking about a problem that is plaguing the whole defensive setup of the Clemson Tigers. For context, hear this.

This was the season when Clemson didn’t sign any defensive end or tackle in transfers in their 2024 class. In fact, they didn’t sign any single player through transfers in their 2024 class. So, Swinney’s thinking that he could cope without any conference-level defensive end cost him a lot over the course of the season. That also spilled down into their Texas game when they allowed a season-high 292 yards in rushing attack. So, what can Clemson actually do to mend their fences?

Klubnik’s loyalty tested by Clemson’s underperformance?

Well, they might be starting to do just that as they have added a player in edge rusher Will Heldt, who they have signed from Purdue. He is someone who has a lot of talent and has also performed steadily over his last two seasons. He has accumulated 56 tackles and 5 sacks and has also returned 16 yards scoring a touchdown. However, the best news has come from their QB Cade Klubnik.

In a recent interview with the ‘Pure Athlete Podcast’ the player actually gave a loyalty statement for all the Clemson supporters. He was talking about interest from different colleges after as the Tigers didn’t have the best of their seasons. “So after my sophomore year, sure, I had some teams call up and ask me to come and blah blah blah,” Klubnik said. “But I’m like, ‘No, I’m staying here”. Well, that says a lot about a player who is just phenomenal not only with his stats but also because of his loyalty to the program. That counts for something, right?