Streeter frustrated, looking for answers after Tigers struggle to complete drives

Clemson spent plenty of time in Tennessee territory but struggled to score.

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Sat Dec 31 07:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

MIAMI GARDENS, FL – Missed opportunities, missed assignments and red zone struggles doomed Clemson Friday night in the Orange Bowl.

If you just saw the stats – 101 plays for 484 total yards – you would think Clemson probably beat Tennessee handily, but all those plays and yards amounted to a 31-14 loss to Tennessee at Hard Rock Stadium.

Red zone scoring hasn’t been an issue for Clemson in 2022 (ranked second nationally there coming in), but it certainly was against the Vols.

Clemson had nine drives that ended deep in Tennessee territory. There were three missed field goals, a failed fake field goal attempt, clock mismanagement at the end of the first half, and a failed fourth-down conversion.

Offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said not completing drives was the story of the night, and there wasn’t one thing he could point to for Clemson’s failures.

“That was the most frustrating thing of the night,” Streeter said after the game. “So many drives that got us down there to that high red zone area and then just stalled. That was the struggle tonight, and it hasn't been a struggle all year long. That was the frustration.

“There really wasn't. One time a guy made a mistake and had a missed assignment. Another time, it was a missed throw or a missed opportunity. It wasn't the normal that we've been doing all year long. We very rarely stalled in the red zone. We missed a couple of field goals, but a couple of those were long field goals. That was the story of the night: shooting ourselves in the foot whenever we got down there close.”

Freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik made his first career start Friday night, and Streeter said in hindsight they probably should have done more to get him comfortable instead of having him throw the ball 40 times in the first half.

“First off, we have a ton of confidence in Cade,” Streeter said of the freshman signal caller. “He has prepared very, very well. We probably threw the ball too many times, but we continued to make plays or get pass-interference situations. We were moving the ball down the field and getting some chunks. We were having some success and our guys were feeling it. We just didn't finish a lot of those drives. In hindsight, we probably should've ran the ball a little bit more in the first half and given him a little bit of a breather and more situations where he can settle in a little bit.”

Streeter said the coaches wanted to make sure that Will Shipley got more touches in the second half.

"We did, for sure. We highlighted it at halftime and said that's got to be our number one thing," Streeter said. "A guy that plays as hard as him and is as talented as him, we've got to get him the ball more. We were able to do that in the second half and we felt like because of the plays - we had 53 plays in the first half - we were starting to wear them down and you could see that in that third quarter running the ball and getting some chunks in the running game. It was good to get him some more touches in the second half."

Part of Klubnik’s inability to get comfortable was the fact that Tennessee was consistently in the backfield. Streeter said there were breakdowns in several different areas.

“I'll have to watch the film to get a better idea. There were some situations that they blitzed us and we were hot, which means we didn't have enough guys to block so we needed to get rid of the ball a little bit quicker,” Streeter said. “They did a good job - I want to credit them - of disguising a lot of stuff. We knew they were going to do it but they did a really good job disguising some of their blitzes, the blitz package and how they did on the back end too. I know he got hit some times and a guy came free and two or three of those were hot situations.

“I think there were good times and then there some times we had a breakdown whether it would be Cade missing a hot situation or it was a guy with technique up front. It was too inconsistent.”

Streeter said Klubnik did some good things and will learn from the mistakes made – including trying to scramble on third down with no timeouts left at the end of the first half.

“That kid is a warrior. I feel like he competed his tail off the whole night,” he said. “He continued to battle. He got hit a lot. I'm really proud of him for a lot of things. I think he learned a lot of things tonight, too. Before the half, trying to scramble in that situation was not a smart decision at all, but he's going to grow from that stuff. That's the kind of guy he is. He's a guy that is always going to find ways to get better. He'll learn from some of those mistakes he had tonight...

“He wasn't thinking about that situation and didn't realize we didn't have a timeout left. We're in field goal range already and being able to process that. With young quarterbacks, things like that happen. I hate that it happened tonight but he'll learn from it.”