Clemson Football: 3 takeaways from upset loss vs. Syracuse in Week 7

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SYRACUSE, NY – OCTOBER 13: Head coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers congratulates Kelly Bryant #2 after a scoring drive during the first quarter against the Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome on October 13, 2017 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images) /

1. Clemson is plenty flawed; bye week comes at perfect time

I get it , no team in college football is perfect, but Clemson proved that time and time again on Friday night as it fell to the Syracuse Orange in upset fashion. The Tigers kept shooting themselves in the foot, and that was even with a relatively-upright Kelly Bryant.

What were the issues? The defensive backfield and discipline. The Tigers kept mentally falling apart in key situations such as third and long missed conversions by the Orange which they bailed out with pass interferences, personal fouls and offsides penalties.

Those type of discipline mistakes burned Clemson all night as they had their worst penalty performance of the season, finishing with 11 for 119 yards. Syracuse had 12 penalties for 100 yards, so they weren’t much better, but the Tigers are coming off a national title so the expectations in that regard are completely different.

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As for the secondary, it seemed that it was getting burned early and often and when it didn’t get burned, it was called for holding or pass interferences. This needs to be cleaned up as the bye week comes at the perfect time.

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