Clemson football experienced a gut-wrenching loss on Nov. 1, leaving its fan base in anguish. This defeat marked the Tigers’ sixth straight loss to Power Four teams when playing in Memorial Stadium.

Not too long ago, the Clemson fan base was sitting at the top of the college football world. Many teams and their fan bases could only dream of achieving and witnessing such high levels of success. Now, like the majority of college football teams, the Tigers are in utter shambles. Clemson is lost and frail in a ruthless world, where one disappointing season could alter the trajectory of a program.

Clemson fans now wonder which direction their program will head. However, rebuilding the program is a process that needs to be fixed one game at a time. Start by reviewing the most recent game and evaluating areas for improvement.

In Clemson’s loss against Duke, the defense was clearly the root of the defeat. The offense scored 45 points, which would typically result in a win. This past weekend, that was not the case.

Clemson’s defense has been weak this year, but more specifically, the secondary has been disastrous. The Blue Devils took advantage and dismantled it.

Duke’s redshirt sophomore quarterback, Darian Mensah, was the focal point of the Blue Devils’ offensive prowess. Mensah completed 27 of 41 passes with 361 yards and four touchdowns. Duke’s offense had enough success through Mensah connecting with his receivers, where they didn’t even have to bother establishing any run game of relevance.

The Blue Devils finished with 22 rushes for 78 yards, an inefficient 3.5 yards per rush.

There were plenty of defensive breakdowns in the secondary, the majority occurring during the first half.

Opening drive:

​Mensah displayed his talent and confidence on the Blue Devils opening drive. Clemson’s defense held Duke to a fourth-and-3 at the Clemson 46-yard line. Mensah was able to convert with ease, as he read off Khalil Barnes as the high safety, and his receiver, Cooper Barkate, was open as he broke for his dig route.

​Clemson would hold Duke to another fourth-and-short situation on the same drive, but Mensah was able to connect with Barkate again to convert and continue the drive. Barkate was in tight coverage with Avieon Terrell, but Mensah threaded the needle with a veteran-esque throw.

​The Tigers’ defense was then on its heels, giving up multiple fourth-down conversions on the opening drive. Duke would take advantage and continue to rely on its passing attack. Mensah connected with Que’Sean Brown on a wheel route for their first touchdown of the afternoon.

The Blue Devils attacked cornerback Ashton Hampton, who has struggled this season and continued to do so this past weekend. Brown burned Hampton in man coverage, and there was no safety help at the top of the route, which led to Brown being wide open in the end zone.

Second drive:

​Clemson would respond to the Duke score with a touchdown of its own, fueled by an explosive connection between Cade Klubnik and Antonio Williams. However, Duke was not phased and knew it had the edge over Clemson’s defense.

​Duke’s second offensive drive was nothing short of explosive, as Mensah connected with Barkate for a 77-yard touchdown due to a complete bust in coverage.

​The Blue Devils recognized that Clemson was in press-man coverage and saw Terrell on an island against Barkate with no safety over the top. Duke ran an RPO, Terrell bit on the run, Mensah pulled it back and Barkate was wide open with an easy walk-in touchdown to take a 14-7 lead.

​Third drive:

​Duke’s third drive was similar to its first drive. It methodically drove down the field, put together a 10-play 72-yard drive, and capped it off with its third touchdown.

The Tigers’ fourth-down woes continued with Duke converting on a fourth-and-7.

​Clemson blitzed Ronan Hanafin, leaving Ricardo Jones with the responsibility of picking up Duke’s tight end, Jeremiah Hasley. Duke worked the passing windows within the hashmarks after Hasley ran a dig route with inside leverage on Jones, giving Mensah an easy target.

Jones missed the tackle, and Hasley picked up the first down with a 19-yard reception.

​A couple plays following the fourth down conversion, Mensah connected with receiver Andrel Anthony for a 20-yard touchdown. A great play-call from Duke’s offensive coordinator, Jonathan Brewer, where he put his tight end, Landen King, on a flat and drew the attention from Clemson’s linebacker Wade Woodaz away from the middle field.

This left Terrell in one-on-one coverage with Anthony, who again had plenty of inside leverage while running his inside-post route. Terrell was caught flatfooted, and as soon as Anthony broke for his post route, Terrell was completely beaten, leaving Brown wide open in the endzone.

​Last drive of the first half:

​This drive compressed Clemson’s margin of error to zero. Clemson had forced punts on back-to-back drives, completely shifting the momentum. The Tigers had taken a 28-21 lead over the Blue Devils with just 50 seconds remaining in the half. It seemed as if Clemson would head to the break leading by a touchdown after trailing 21-7.

Despite momentum and Death Valley’s rowdiness on its side, Clemson was not able to prevent a Duke score with less than a minute remaining. In fact, the Tigers could not even hold the Blue Devils to a field goal.

​Duke completed a couple of passes and worked its way towards midfield, setting itself up near field goal position to put some points on the board before halftime. However, it still had time for a couple more shots downfield to maybe score a touchdown. Considering the way Clemson’s secondary and safeties had been playing, it was well worth a shot.

​With 18 seconds remaining, Clemson lined up with two safeties playing deep, as well as the two cornerbacks, to prevent a deep pass completion. Clemson blitzed their slot cornerback, Corian Gipson, and dropped the defensive end, Will Heldt, on the other end of the field into coverage. This left the slot receiver, Brown, isolated down the seam with Barnes. Brown utilized his speed to take the top off the safety.

Barnes must’ve assumed he was getting help in coverage because it is clear he was on the heels of his feet, and got beaten by Brown. Mensah connected with Brown for yet another touchdown, and tied the game heading into the locker room, following the Clemson touchdown.

​Following the first half, Clemson prevented these busts in coverage from happening as often, but Duke still controlled the game offensively, leading the way to a victory in Death Valley, 46-45.

The secondary had plenty of issues against the Blue Devils, but these are mistakes that could be fixed. Whether that’s through coaching, improving personnel for certain situations in the transfer portal or high school recruiting, Clemson has the resources to acknowledge and make the necessary changes.