2. There are concerns about Travis Etienne
Should we be concerned about Travis Etienne? Absolutely not.
Etienne was held to 53 rushing yards on 16 attempts against Texas A&M the previous week and was just held to 76 yards on 14 carries to Syracuse. He was also held out of the end-zone on both games. However, if you include his receiving yards, he was over 100 total in both.
Clemson had 221 yards rushing against Syracuse and Etienne averaged 5.4 yards per rush. The simple answer is there was no need for him to have to grind out over 100 yards for Clemson to win the game.
Clemson is able to use multiple backs in the back field and if the Tigers can spare Etienne some hits and still win comfortably then that is exactly what they will do.
Similar to Trevor Lawrence, Etienne has huge expectations this season and is expected to “go off” every game by the media and fans. He will have plenty of ‘wow’ moments this season, but in a game that you win by 35 points, you would rather him come out injury free and ready for the rest of the season.