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Clemson drops to 1-3 after 34-21 home loss to Syracuse

The 2025 season is an abject disaster for Clemson.

The Tigers lost their second straight game to drop to 1-3 in a 34-21 weather-delayed home defeat to Syracuse. It's the first 1-3 start in Dabo Swinney's tenure and the loss also dropped the Tigers to 0-2 in the ACC.

Clemson now faces a mountainous battle to get back to the conference championship game after making the College Football Playoff in 2024.

In his halftime interview with ESPN, Dabo Swinney was frustrated with the way his defense played. Things didn’t get much better in the second half after both teams sat for approximately 100 minutes between the second and third quarters because of thunderstorms.

Clemson trailed 24-14 at the break and found itself down 20 in the third quarter when backup QB Rickie Collins hit Justus Ross-Simmons for an 18-yard TD.

Collins was in the game after starting QB Steve Angeli was injured earlier in the quarter. Angeli, who was 18-of-31 passing for 244 yards and two touchdowns, fell to the ground without contact and immediately grabbed the back of his lower left leg.

After he was attended to by trainers, Angeli had to be helped off the field and was unable to put any weight on his left leg. By the time the game was over, Angeli had changed out of his uniform and was on the sideline with crutches and his leg in a boot.

The TD was set up by a crucial Clemson mistake with a chance to get back into the game. Collins threw a third-down incompletion after replacing Angeli and the Orange punted on the next play. But Clemson RB Adam Randall fumbled on the Tigers’ first play as Antoine Deslauriers punched the ball out. One play later, Clemson led by 20.

The Tigers' chances at a comeback unofficially ended with just over five minutes to go when Cade Klubnik's fourth-down pass was intercepted by Davien Kerr. The interception was preceded by missed opportunities in the passing game. And that drive was a microcosm of the entire game for the Tigers.

Klubnik's surface stats don't look bad, but the Tiges had so many opportunities in the passing game that they just couldn't convert. An offense that took a massive step forward in 2024 has now reverted back to its uneven ways of 2023 even when it does hold onto the ball.

Clemson has now turned the ball over seven times through four games and has three straight games with two turnovers. In 2024, the Tigers turned the ball over more than once just one time.

The defense isn't slowing down teams enough to compensate, either. After stuffing LSU's run game in Week 1, Clemson is getting gashed on the ground again. The Tigers' inability to stop the run in 2024 led to a change at defensive coordinator and the arrival of former Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen.

While Clemson isn't getting ripped apart like it did in 2024 — six teams rushed for at least 200 yards last season — the Tigers' last three opponents have rushed for at least 120 yards.

As Clemson struggles, Syracuse is halfway to bowl eligibility after a 10-win season in 2024. The Orange have the toughest schedule in the ACC, but a win over Clemson goes a long way. And it also further validates the fantastic job that coach Fran Brown has done in his short time in upstate New York.

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