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Dabo Swinney has long said, “Best is the Standard.” But through four weeks of the 2025 season, Clemson has looked anything but. Saturday’s 34-21 thrashing at the hands of Syracuse wasn’t just another loss—it was a full-on indictment of a team that opened the year ranked inside the top five, only to stumble to 1-3 with, truthfully, four lackluster performances.
This wasn’t Florida State in 2013 when Jameis Winston and the Seminoles stormed into Death Valley and hung 51 points on their way to a national championship. This was a middle-of-the-pack Syracuse squad that bullied Clemson from the opening snap.
Defensive Meltdown
Clemson’s defense—touted all offseason as the strength of the roster—was shredded immediately. On the opening drive, defensive end T.J. Parker whiffed on a tackle, sparking a 32-yard run that keyed Syracuse’s first touchdown. The Orange then executed a flawless onside kick, tacked on a field goal, and suddenly Clemson trailed 10-0 before its offense had run a single play.
And it’s no outlier: the Tigers have now fallen behind 16-0, 13-0, and 10-0 in their last three games. That’s a trend, not an accident.
Quarterback Cade Klubnik briefly gave Clemson life with a teardrop touchdown to sophomore star Bryant Wesco Jr., cutting the deficit to 10-7. But Syracuse answered immediately, scoring on its next two possessions to seize control. Fran Brown’s squad wasn’t lucky. They were dominant.
75 yards, TD (7 plays, 3:59)
49 yards, FG (11 plays, 3:20)
75 yards, TD (9 plays, 3:25)
80 yards, TD (8 plays, 3:39)
By halftime, it was 24-14 Syracuse.
Coaching Missteps
As if the missed tackles and blown coverages weren’t enough, the coaching miscues piled on. Late in the second quarter, head coach Dabo Swinney and his staff inexplicably let about eight seconds tick away before calling a timeout, costing Clemson a realistic chance at a field goal.
A 39-yard Adam Randall run gave the Tigers a chance, but with the clock dwindling, Klubnik rushed a quick out to Wesco that fell incomplete. Forced into a desperation heave, Clemson ended the half empty-handed.
Then came the hour-and-36-minute lightning delay. Clemson had enough time to rewatch and evaluate the entire first half.
It didn’t matter.
Second-Half Collapse
Out of the break, Clemson opened with four-straight Randall runs that gashed Syracuse’s defense. But once again, the drive stalled and ended in a punt.
Orange quarterback Steve Angeli quickly engineered a field goal drive to make it 27-14. Soon after, Angeli went down with a non-contact injury, and backup Rickie Collins entered. He kept the Orange moving, and when Randall fumbled late in the third quarter, Collins capitalized, finding Justus Ross-Simmons for the dagger touchdown to make it 34-14.
Empty Numbers
For all the preseason talk of Klubnik’s growth, the senior has regressed. His decision-making is slow, his pocket presence shaky, and his miscues costly. Yes, he finished 37-for-60 for 363 yards and three touchdowns with one interception, but the numbers felt hollow. They were empty calories—stats without substance, as drives repeatedly stalled under pressure and penalties.
For the third time in program history, Clemson put up over 500 yards of offense and lost.
The offensive line was equally disastrous, with pre-snap mistakes killing momentum. Meanwhile, Clemson’s once-feared defensive front barely touched Syracuse’s quarterbacks. The Orange won the trenches on both sides, a stunning reversal for a program that once built championships on dominance at the line of scrimmage.
Systemic Failure
After losses to LSU and Georgia Tech, Swinney insisted Clemson was “just a play away.” Not this time. Against Syracuse, the Tigers were never close. The mistakes weren’t isolated—they were systemic.
Swinney’s stated motto this season was “Win the One.” But now, as his team sits at 1-3, winning another one is going to be a daunting task. After a close home loss to LSU to open the season, Swinney challenged the media to “say we suck again.” Well, here we are.
The Tigers aren’t chasing championships. They’re chasing competence. Unless something changes immediately, “Bust is the Standard” will define this season.
