Sapakoff: Duke is the first Klubnik, Riley test in Florida State prep for Clemson

DURHAM, N.C. — I asked Cade Klubnik last week about his biggest concern with the Clemson offense coming into the 2023 season.

“I don’t have any concerns,” the Tigers’ sophomore quarterback said without much hesitation.

Maybe that should be a bit concerning to Clemson fans, considering Klubnik’s lackluster performance in his only college start, a 31-14 Orange Bowl loss to Tennessee.

And with Clemson question marks at left tackle and proven receiver reliability.

All of that, while the Tigers are still meshing the quarterback room with new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley’s brainy strategy as Kid Klubnik goes into his first significant action in a true road game, the Monday night season opener at Duke.

That’s OK.

Brashness beats over-analytical worry from a 19-year-old.

The Klubnik-Riley pairing — officially starting at the site of the 1942 Rose Bowl in Durham and ideally winding its way to a College Football Playoff semifinal at the real Rose Bowl in Pasadena — doesn’t have to be great.

It doesn’t have to be the best in the ACC.

With an elite Clemson defense doing its part, it just has to be clearly better than the duo of quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei and offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter was as Clemson went 10-3 in 2021 and 11-3 in 2022.

First order of business: Use the Duke game as launch-pad prep for the Tigers’ first major ACC showdown of the decade, Florida State on Sept. 23 at Death Valley.

The next major ACC showdown likely isn’t far behind — same two teams in the ACC championship game on Dec. 2 in Charlotte.

The Seminoles, after a 45-24 clobbering of LSU on Sunday night in Orlando, deserve a No. 1 ranking and Bobby Bowden era-level hype.

And yet it’s early. Colorado isn’t a playoff lock, not even with Heisman Trophy front-runners Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders.

That gives Klubnik plenty of time to spread the ball around to Antonio Williams, Beaux Collins, Jake Briningstool, Adam Randall, Cole Turner, Brannon Spector and Tyler Brown and others, while Will Shipley and Phil Mafah keep giving Clemson an elite 1-2 punch in a backfield that should benefit immensely from Riley’s run-friendly Air Raid approach.

Or, as Klubnik says, “Do what we do.”

‘Sneaky fast’

Consistency was the previous problem, even as Uiagalelei and Streeter made progress in 2022 after an injury-marred 2021. The Tigers finished 30th nationally in points per game last year (33.2) and 48th in total offense (410.3), up from 82nd (26.3) and 100th (360.8). Just not up enough.

What a great start at Oregon State, five total touchdowns in a 42-17 rout of San Jose State for Uiagalelei, exceptionally well-liked at Clemson.

But taking steps back at Notre Dame and against South Carolina last season are why Clemson didn’t make the playoff for the seventh time in eight years, and why Uiagalelei is in Corvallis and Streeter is on Kirby Smart’s analyst staff at Georgia.

Clemson’s 2022 numbers were boosted a bit by Klubnik’s MVP performance off the bench in a 39-10 ACC Championship Game victory over North Carolina.

The biggest reason Clemson was an overwhelming favorite over Florida State in the ACC Kickoff media poll is the Riley-Klubnik tweak to the Tigers’ offense.

Riley, 33, has been on a path to a plum head coach job from his formative years in Muleshoe, Texas, to helping TCU somehow reach the national championship game in January.

Klubnik torched the Tar Heels in his last game in North Carolina, but needs to keep emotions in check.

“You almost have to calm him down at times,” Riley said. “He’s so amped up.”

Teammates marvel at his running ability.

“Sneaky fast,” Clemson safety Andrew Mukuba said.

Tennessee players were impressed, despite Klubnik going 30 of 54 for 320 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions in the Orange Bowl.

“A real good quarterback, especially being a freshman and seeing how well he played as a freshman,” Volunteers defensive tackle Omari Thomas said this summer. “He’s going to do great things at Clemson and be a real good player in college football.”

Rose Bowls in 1942, 2024

The Japanese military attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, got the U.S. involved in World War II. It also forced blackouts and a ban on large public gatherings on the West Coast. That included moving the Oregon State-Duke clash in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1942, to Durham.

The Beavers arrived in North Carolina after a multi-stop, five-day train trip from Corvallis and won, 20-16.

The next Rose Bowl game is a CFP semifinal; New Orleans is the other Jan. 1 semifinal site, and Clemson wants no part of that after losing playoff games to Alabama and Ohio State and a national championship game to LSU in The Big Easy.

Cade Klubnik, to get to the playoff, doesn’t have to be better than Florida State’s Jordan Travis or North Carolina’s Drake Maye or Duke’s Riley Leonard (the son of former Citadel basketball player Chad Leonard).

Garrett Riley doesn’t have to be the smartest guy in the ACC room.

Together, they just have to be better than the last Clemson quarterback-offensive coordinator combo, particularly against Florida State at least once.

Follow Gene Sapakoff on Twitter @sapakoff