Clemson football’s red-zone curse at Duke and more on ACC realignment

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Duke’s fans infiltrated the red zone in a cleaner fashion than Clemson did Monday.

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Clemson’s Nightmare

Blue Devils spoil Tigers’ opener

Clemson’s offense was supposed to be recharged and fully equipped to bring the Tigers back to national prominence in our CFB edition of Monday Night Football last night. Instead, the Tigers found themselves under a red-zone curse in a 28-7 upset at Duke. Here’s how each Clemson trip to the red zone panned out:

• Blocked 23-yard field goal attempt.
• Cade Klubnik 2-yard completion to Will Shipley for a TD.
• Klubnik fumble at the 10-yard line.
• Phil Mafah fumble at the 3-yard line.
• Officially: That’s four red-zone trips, ONE score.

Clemson somehow led at halftime after a heavily flawed first half, but the Tigers were shut out afterward. They never even punted in the second half. The miscues and mistakes led to Clemson’s lowest score against an unranked opponent under Dabo Swinney. Klubnik tossed risky passes all night and finally was intercepted in the fourth quarter to put the nail in the already slammed-shut coffin. Clemson’s offensive line didn’t offer much relief as Klubnik scrambled throughout the night and was sacked twice.

The Tigers no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt. Their reign might be over, Grace Raynor writes.

But hello Riley Leonard! The Duke quarterback broke a tackle and somehow stayed in bounds on a 44-yard rush for a Blue Devils touchdown. Leonard finished with 175 yards passing on a 52 percent completion rate, but his stats didn’t tell how much the QB shined above his expectations. I hope he got to turn in his homework late.

After the game, Duke coach Mike Elko said: “This is what I envisioned Duke could be when I took this job.” And what a vision that was. You may be surprised. Manny Navarro is not. He had this one on upset watch since his oddly specific predictions last month.

And just a few hours away from Durham more ACC drama unfolds at the conference headquarters. Here’s Nicole Auerbach on the latest in realignment.

ACC Realignment Update

Auerbach: Goals differ for dissenters

On Friday, the ACC voted 12-3 to add Cal, Stanford and SMU as members starting in 2024. That 12-3 piece is a particularly interesting part of the process because typically these votes are unanimous — either because it wasn’t taken until everyone was on board, or because the commissioner made sure everyone fell in line. An even more unusual step followed the actual vote: FSU and UNC put out statements confirming they voted against expansion. (Clemson was the third no, I can tell you.)

So, how does the league go forward? Do the 12 yes votes hold anything against the three dissenters? What about commissioner Jim Phillips? I asked him about this, and he said, “Whichever side of this thing you were on, there’s been an appreciation for the process, the transparency of the process and that you move on now that decisions have been made. There’s no question in my mind that I believe that that’s what’s going to happen with our group.”

There were myriad reasons the three dissenters voted the way they did, and no one in the league should hold it against them that they didn’t think there was enough value added to make a move like this. Their ultimate goals may be different from those of the rest of the schools, too; the Boston Colleges and Wake Forests of the world want to ensure the future of the conference. If Clemson, FSU and UNC believe they have a shot at a coveted invite to the Big Ten or SEC someday, their approach to expansion would be understandably different. All sides understand these arguments, which will indeed allow the league to move forward.

Speaking of looking ahead, the outlook for this season appears bright. Duke’s upset of Clemson shakes up the league status quo. The ACC went 2-0 vs. the SEC during opening weekend, which is always worth a feather in the cap. North Carolina may have a real defense. And the Seminoles are potential CFP contenders. So, maybe more talk about football? — Auerbach