⚡ CFB Dashboard

Clemson has won two in a row. Can the Tigers make it a winning streak? Dabo Swinney's team showed a lot of fight and resilience last weekend in its adversity-filled win over North Carolina in front of a weather-tampered audience in Death Valley. There should be at least a few more in the crowd out in Berkeley... Clemson is en route to the other coast on Wednesday — the team will practice tonight at 7:30 p.m. local time, meaning 10:30 p.m. for those of us over here on the Atlantic side. Cal was somewhat disappointing in its first two games before smashing an FCS opponent last week. This is an excellent opportunity for the Tigers to get to 3-1 in the early going of 2026. Here are three things Clemson did well last game that it must travel with this week: THE FRESHMAN MUST PROTECT THE BALL AGAINST A PICKY SECONDARY OK, I hear you, the Tigers already have five turnovers this season. But two of those belong to Christopher Vizzina and one is on Jarvis Green for his bad fumble last week. Tait Reynolds has turned it over twice. The first one was the fumble on the goal-line in his first drive against Georgia Southern — last weekend, he was late on a go ball to Bryant Wesco Jr. that would've been a walk-in touchdown had he let the ball fly sooner. Neither was a gross mistake, just two mistakes you'd see from a guy playing his first snaps. But all mistakes are the same in the game. This isn't practice. (Photo: Cory Fravel, 247Sports) The Golden Bears have five interceptions this season, including three in their ACC win over Syracuse two weeks ago, which more or less sealed the deal. Cal has also seen the flip side of throwing the ball to the other team, tossing two in the fourth quarter itself in a tie game with UCLA, eventually losing by 21 points late. It would be really frustrating if Clemson plays a good game but drops one because the freshman gives the ball away multiple times. If he can protect the possession, the Tigers should have plenty of success on offense. More on that in a minute... THE SECONDARY NEEDS TO TAKE TWO STRONG PERFORMANCES ON THE ROAD Every team is going to want to try and attack the Tigers on the ground, that's just simply where they're weakest. But this isn't really a team that's built to beat you in that way. Cal is currently 122nd nationally in yards per carry (3.4) and 126th in rushing yards per game (106.7) — the Golden Bears average the sixth-most pass attempts per game (41.3). Syracuse allowed them just 67 yards on 26 attempts. They tried 40 times against UCLA but picked up just 119 yards. Unsurprisingly, Cal saw its most success on the ground this year against Wagner last week when it averaged 4.8 per carry on 28 carries (134 yards). If you make this team one-dimensional, you might be able to do enough to slow them down. Because this quarterback could be a real problem. Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is averaging nearly 290 passing yards through the team's first three games on 108 attempts, the most the league. If this were a year ago, you might be holding your breath thinking about what the final box score might look like. But this group in 2026 appears to be much better suited to slow down the constant air attack. Max Johnson went 27-for-47 through the air. Billy Edwards Jr. only completed 13 of his 30 attempts last week. Even Sam Leavitt was limited to a 57% completion percentage. This will be a really good test ahead of another date with Darian Mensah next week. AN EVEN BETTER OPPORTUNITY TO GROW THE RUNNING GAME In order to be a good team, you have to run the ball and stop the run. We already mentioned Cal's woes on the offensive end — the Golden Bears don't defend it well, either. UCLA hammered away at Cal on the ground, totaling 277 yards on 8.7 per carry. That included 29 yards and a score from the Bruins' quarterback, Nico Iamaleava. Syracuse had 118 rushing yards — even Wagner put up 4.1 yards per carry last week. The Golden Bears currently rank 129th nationally and last in the ACC in that category (5.34 YPC). The next worst is Florida State with a 4.99 mark. Cal has also given up 18 chunk plays of 20+ yards (7 rush, 11 pass) — which also sits at the bottom of the league, tied with FSU. Out of nowhere, the Tigers racked up 7.3 per attempt in the second half against a much better North Carolina front. If Clemson can make the right decisions in the RPO game like it did down the stretch last week, it should be in a great spot to have a lot of success. Reynolds should be a big concern for the home team with his legs — Gideon Davidson might be circled for another potential career game. The Tigers have the players on the outside to make this secondary hurt, too. Just don't play into their turnover game. This is a really good opportunity for the offense to continue to grow up quickly...