Heel Tough Blog: Clemson Recap

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The Tar Heels returned to Kenan Stadium on Saturday looking to put a rough start to the season behind them after a week off. Instead, the Clemson Tigers used this game as a get-right one, destroying the Tar Heels from the word go. Behind 28 first quarter points, the Tigers were able to power their way to a 38-10 victory that was even less competitive than the final score reads. Here’s our look at the biggest takeaways from this latest non-competitive loss to a power conference opponent.

Pass Defense Is a MAJOR Issue

It took just one play for this pass defense to get beat on Saturday and it was the beginning of another rough day in this area. Cade Klubnik, who came into the game struggling mightily, was simply outstanding, completing 22 of his 24 pass attempts for 254 yards and four touchdowns as part of a Clemson passing game that threw for 399 yards and five touchdowns on the day. Of those 399 receiving yards, 245 came after the catch thanks to the Tar Heels struggles with missed tackles once again, something that has been an issue in all three games against power conference competition this season. It doesn’t help that the team has no consistent pass rush. Despite Pryce Yates' return from an undisclosed injury, the Tar Heels were never really able to make Klubnik uncomfortable throughout the day, leading to one of the best days of his career. This unit simply needs to be better if this team is going to have any chance at competing moving forward this season.

Offense is Still Limited With Max Johnson at Quarterback

One thing that was obvious on Saturday was that this offense was more efficient under the direction of Max Johnson, but remains pretty limited in what they can do. Of Johnson’s 42 pass attempts, 30 of them came within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage or behind the line of scrimmage, something that we saw a lot of back in the lead up to 2024 and in his other lone start last season against Minnesota. Right now, the Tar Heels do not have a quarterback that can throw the ball in the intermediate or deep passing game with any sort of consistency, which is a real issue.

Offensive Line Trending in the Wrong Direction

A week off was supposed to be just what this group needed to get healthier and recover from their worst performance of the season in Orlando, but that is not what happened. Instead, the unit was embarrassed by a Clemson defensive line that had underperformed in the first four games of the season in both run and pass blocking scenarios. As a run blocking group, only Chad Lindberg graded out better than a 60.0 according to PFF and 50 of the team’s 64 rushing yards came after first contact. In pass protection, the team allowed two sacks and a season-high 23 total quarterback pressures, including three players who allowed six or more pressures. The Austin Blaske experiment at left tackle isn’t going well and Aidan Banfield, who has had his own struggles this season, was missed at left guard in this one. This unit is trending downward fast and needs things to be turned back in the right direction sooner rather than later.

Hard to See A Path to Any Sort of Success For This Team

With this team getting blown off the field again, it is becoming more and more obvious that they simply do not have the talent to compete. Looking ahead, unless something is to drastically change coaching wise, the Tar Heels will only be given a realistic chance to win one more game, the home tilt against Stanford on November 8th. Not only is that the lone game that it feels like the team may have a chance to win, it feels like the lone game the team might be able to compete in. There is no doubt this team is heading towards being one of the worst midfielders teams this program has ever seen, something that no one could have foreseen with the coaching prowess that Belichick brought to the table.

Thanks John Preyer

Saturday officially had me missing the previous regime, which is something I did not expect to say, especially this early under Belichick. Let’s start by calling this what it is: a colossal disaster. We might only be five games into the first season of this experiment, but it is hard to see this working the way that we were expecting it to. The staff did get a late start on building this roster, but it was only by a couple of days and there is no excuse for this team not to be competing against power conference competition. This speaks more to the talent evaluation from Belichick and general manager Michael Lombardi, something that we probably weren’t concerned enough about when this regime took over. The bigger concern, though, is that the staff looks lost and there has to be the question of whether or not Belichick actually cares because it’s hard to tell when he’s on the sideline or taking trips to Nantucket during the bye week. These are questions that you feel like you wouldn’t have to answer if the team had gone with the likes of Matt Campbell or Jon Sumrall, two names that athletic director Bubba Cunningham wanted for the job before John Preyer and the board of trustees basically forced his hand on Belichick. Hey, Preyer, maybe next time you should keep your mouth and let the athletic director make the decision.