We have a better chance at beating TAMU than we do Clemson...
They had the #2 ranked Defense last year & return a lot of young talent to their roster, yes they lost Venables but they have a good play caller with Brandon Streeter replacing Tony E.
I don’t agree with Dabo’s methodology of only making in-house hires, but what he’s built is a culture that has continuity which makes it easier to replace changeover when coaches do finally up & leave, they’re not completely changing everything, it’s a conveyer belt that keeps the same message & reiterates stability within their organizational structure.
They’ve recruited at a high level over the last 4 years & specifically target players that fit their system to a T, the reports of Clemson’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, Clemson is not falling off a cliff anytime soon, the infrastructure built by Dabo hasn’t gone anywhere. Yall love to downplay top dogs every year until it’s time for us to line up against them & then we get smacked right back into reality lol.
Even with DJ Ukulele not being the best QB, they have an incoming TF in Cade Klubnik who has terrific arm talent & upside, he’ll be brought along similar to how Lawrence was, not to mention their DLine returns all of their upperclassmen & their WR corps has already been replenished in conjunction with the guys coming back off of injury.
Their LB corps & the CB group is the youngest unit on their team, but the CB group has a lot of really good young talent & are always developed very well by Mike Reed.
Do not sleep on or underestimate Clemson, they haven’t won the 7 ACC titles by sheer luck, Dabo is no dummy.
But TAMU... As long as Jumbo runs that same outdated 1990’s Auburn offense they’re susceptible to being beat by most teams with a modicum of talent; see TAMU vs Arkansas, TAMU vs Miss ST, TAMU vs Ole Miss, they were significantly more talented than all three of those teams, but still managed to lose because their offense was stagnant & couldn’t move the ball through the air.
Vs Arkansas - 151 yards passing
Vs Miss ST - 135 yards passing
Vs Ole Miss - 237 yards passing
And now they have Lefty Max Johnson at the helm, who’s an average passer as well.
The formula to beating them will be pretty simple, double up the TE, stop the Run & force Max to throw it more than he would like to, because in games in which he threw the ball 30+ times or more he was 3-4, which means when teams forced him to beat them with his arm he mostly failed at it. Plus LSU’s offense was all about the WR’s, at TAMU his primary target will be the TE & the RB’s out of the backfield on every play lol.
Everybody always drools over all the 5-stars at TAMU has but they never use them on offense, they play down to their competition which is why JUMBO has had 4/5 losses in 3 out 4 seasons at TAMU.