What’s next for Clemson after ‘incredibly disappointing’ Orange Bowl loss?

Clemson had 11 really good days in 2022.

They also had three really bad ones.

For a program trying to maintain its status as one of college football’s blue bloods, those two points came to a head late Friday night at Hard Rock Stadium as the Tigers tried to process a 31-14 loss to Tennessee in the Orange Bowl.

There was so much to like from these past four months — a 12th-straight season of 10 or more wins, a seventh ACC championship in eight seasons — and so much to look forward to with freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik among so many budding stars returning in 2023.

But there was so much to critique, too. The slip-ups against Notre Dame and South Carolina and, on Friday, the Volunteers. There were self-inflicted errors and lingering issues that Clemson didn’t make and didn’t have during a six-year run of College Football Playoff appearances.

Consider the No. 7 Tigers back near the top — just not at it.

“We’re not anywhere near where we need to be or going to be, but we got better,” coach Dabo Swinney said. “That’s something that we can take away from it.”

Going 11-3 is a godsend in a lot of places but not Upstate South Carolina, where the current standard remains the CFP national championships Swinney’s Tigers delivered in 2016 and 2018 behind elite quarterback play and offense, and top-to-bottom consistency.

That hasn’t been the case over the past two seasons, with longtime starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei providing some — but not enough — magic and a lack of elite options at receiver becoming more and more clear, and coaching turnover shaking up one of the sport’s more tenured staffs.

Klubnik, Uiagalelei’s backup most of the year, showed why he’s Clemson’s quarterback of the future and left it all on the field Friday, racking up 371 yards and a touchdown on 74 total plays (which set an Orange Bowl record for combined pass attempts and rush attempts).

But he also showed why he’s a 19-year-old true freshman, taking a game-altering sack to end the first half when Clemson was in the red zone with zero timeouts. He later threw a desperation pass that was intercepted while trailing 28-14 late in the fourth quarter.

“We gave it all we had until the very last play,” Klubnik said. “There’s a lot of plays that I want back, but (I’m) just super proud of how everybody competed.”

Un-complementary football

Those are the type of mistakes a player like Klubnik can and should make amid his development — mistakes that a strong team effort around a quarterback can offset. But Clemson didn’t get that either.

The Tigers crossed midfield on 11 of 14 possessions Friday but scored on just three of them thanks to three missed field goals by the always-steady senior B.T. Potter and a fruitless fake field goal attempt, and some concerning mistakes from what had, all year, been a solid offensive line.

Those are the type of hold-ups that allow a team to set the wrong kinds of records. Clemson’s never had more first downs (34) or offensive plays (101) in a loss than it did Friday.

“Incredibly disappointing,” Swinney said, adding that “you don’t get any points for yards. That’s why on the stats, the name of the game is points. Just like I tell the receivers, you don’t get any points for getting open. You have to finish and execute.”

Clemson’s defense also had its moments against the nation’s top scoring offense with five forced three-and-outs and eight forced punts — No. 6 Tennessee’s previous season high was six. But a few visible slip-ups spelled doom for a unit that ultimately didn’t live up to its preseason billing.

Tennessee was a far different team than the one that debuted at No. 1 in the first College Football Playoff rankings on Nov. 1. (Clemson was No. 4 on that list, for what it’s worth.) Starting quarterback Hendon Hooker suffered a season-ending torn ACL and two of the Vols’ top receivers, Biletnikoff winner Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman, opted out of the Orange Bowl.

Still, one-time backup quarterback Joe Milton III hit all the right notes, riding his veteran savvy and arm talent to 251 passing yards, three touchdowns and game MVP honors.

Tennessee wound up with seven big plays — defined as runs of 10-plus yards and catches of 15-plus yards — and none was more deflating than Milton’s 46-yard strike to a wide open wide receiver, Ramel Keyton, to put Tennessee up 28-14 after a major coverage bust.

“They’re good enough to capitalize on our mistakes,” Clemson defensive end K.J. Henry said. “Also, obviously, Joe is a great player. … A lot of people haven’t gotten to see that because he hasn’t gotten to play a lot this year, but I was very aware of what he could do.”

Clemson had rattled off its best drive of the night beforehand — 12 plays and 71 yards to get within 21-14 after a Klubnik rushing touchdown and Shipley two-point conversion — but it was too little and too late. The Tigers flirted with but never reached every team’s goal of complementary football, offense and defense and special teams working together as one.

What’s next?

The season’s finish leaves Swinney’s program in an interesting spot entering 2023, having missed two consecutive College Football Playoffs after six straight appearances from 2015 to 2020 — and generated more questions than answers for this offseason.

That’s especially true when it comes to the big games: the ones teams have to win to win championships. Clemson finished the season 4-1 against opponents who ranked in the AP Top 25 at kickoff but, notably, 2-3 against the teams ranked closest to them in 247Sports’ talent composite metric, which ranks teams based on the number of four- and five-star recruits on their roster.

Clemson, No. 5 on that list with 51 combined blue-chip recruits, had no issues with No. 16 North Carolina in the ACC title game and snuck past No. 17 Florida State, too.

But their season-defining losses to No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 21 South Carolina and No. 19 Tennessee — the three other teams that most closely matched them pound for pound, at least in terms of raw talent — were different stories.

After 11 really good days and three really bad days, that’s one of many trends Swinney hopes — and plans — to turn around come 2023.

“Again, we’ll keep battling,” he said. “We’ll keep working. There’s a lot of great days ahead. A lot of great days ahead. People say what they want to say. Always have, always will. We’re just going to keep doing what we do.”