Palmetto Bowl. Death Valley rallying behind you. A CFP berth on the line. Clemson Tigers’ (9-1) quarterback Cade Klubnik has perhaps been yearning for a stage of this magnitude. While a Clemson-South Carolina (8-3) game would usually be an afterthought on rivalry weekend, that isn’t the case this time. Saturday’s iteration of the Palmetto Bowl is a high-stakes affair. No.12 plays no.15, with the winner potentially rewarded with a breakthrough from the committee. 

Klubnik’s season, much like his team’s, has gone under the radar a little. He’s shown out throughout his junior year. However, recognition has been hard to come by. Unless your name is Cam Ward, the ACC can prove a poisoned chalice for getting flowers for your performances. One media-facing Clemson alum wants to challenge that notion. In fact, he thinks Cade Klubnik should rub shoulders at the Heisman ceremony.

Eric Mac Lain made an appearance on the Clemson-centric Orange Crush Podcast in the lead up to the massive game on Saturday. The ACC Network and ESPN analyst bestowed massive praise on his school’s star under center. He believes Klubnik is going to be the key in this matchup that unlocks Clemson’s path to the CFP. “How good of a player do we think Cade is? I think he’s going to be the best player on the field”, he claimed.

Mac Lain then took it one step further, placing Klubnik in discourse he’s hardly been a part of. “I think that he can take the steps necessary to make things happen for his team and to get it going. To be ready to take that next moment to solidify ‘Hey, I’m that guy. I am a Heisman finalist. I should be in New York when you look at my numbers and you compare them to others that might be there’,” he said. So how does Cade Klubnik’s numbers compare to his peers?

Klubnik has 29 TDs to go with 4 picks on the season. He has 2,761 total yards and a fairly pale 77.7 QB rating. Comparing this to his most direct adversary in the reckoning- Cam Ward- the numbers fall short in almost every aspect. Ward has thrown for over a 1000 more yards against a similar ACC schedule. It is difficult to justify Eric Mac Lain’s plea.

The game on Saturday does afford a sizable opportunity, almost like a speed boost past the rest of the field. Almost every secondary screen in the country will have the Palmetto Bowl on it. CFB fans as well as the powers that be will keep a close eye on this virtual play-in game. A huge performance at this juncture of the season can aid Cade Klubnik’s case. But this is perhaps clutching at straws. Klubnik himself doesn’t seem to be swayed by any of the peripheral stuff surrounding the game.

Cade Klubnik seeks to block out the noise around him and his team

In his pre-game presser, Cade Klubnik was asked questions to assess whether the backdrop of the game and the surrounding fervor were weighing on him. He remained stoic and appeared laser-focused on taking care of business in the win column.

“My eyes are set on Saturday. Going to play the best I can. Going to try to have the best Wednesday practice I can today, then go attack tomorrow. [Then] go attack Friday and then go attack Saturday. That’s what that’s what my eyes are set on,” Cade Klubnik said. The lights shall be bright and this is perhaps the biggest game of his young career. 

Dabo Swinney would want to win by any means necessary. Whether that is by leaning on his quarterback, run game or the defense. Klubnik may not be the star of the show, as Eric Mac Lain suggested. He may not even be able to put up the clinic he’ll need to backdoor himself onto the Heisman stage. However, there is bigger fish to fry and a playoff to get into. I mean, it’s not as if being a Clemson QB on that stage guarantees a smooth NFL career (ahem, Trevor Lawrence!).