Jake Dickert didn’t need a game plan to stir things up. One comment was enough to hand Clemson a little extra trouble before Saturday night’s showdown with Miami.
The Wake Forest coach, whose team is 3-1 after an upset road win over the Hurricanes, spent time talking up his own group’s toughness after Wake Forest’s 33-20 loss to Miami at home two weekends ago. Dickert said he believed the Demon Deacons were the more physical team, even in defeat.
"One thing I left the game with saying we're the more physical team, and I think that's what we put on the table," Dickert said to David Pollack about Miami after Wake Forest lost to the Hurricanes 33-20 at home. "Now, their team speed is hard to deal with.
We were just never able to quite get over the hump in the last fourth quarter. Obviously, they got us in the second quarter, and we couldn't overcome it."
That’s the kind of quote that can travel fast, and in this case it lands right in Clemson’s lap. The Tigers were never going to be the source of Miami bulletin-board material this week, but Dickert gave the Hurricanes something to chew on anyway.
And Miami is already the kind of team that doesn’t need much encouragement. Under Mario Cristobal, the Hurricanes have made a habit of slipping in conference play when they shouldn’t.
Last year’s losses to Louisville and SMU still barely left them inside the College Football Playoff picture. In 2024, a Syracuse loss kept them out of the 12-team field, and the Georgia Tech episode turned them into a punchline across the Power Four.
So no, this isn’t just friendly fire. Dickert effectively challenged Miami while speaking on See Ball Get Ball, and even Pollack seemed taken aback by it.
"What do you mean Wake Forest was the more physical football team?" That reaction says plenty about how the comment landed.
For Clemson, the timing is bad enough already. After getting blown out by LSU in Week 1, the Tigers can’t afford to get run over again by another playoff-level opponent. They’ve built some momentum over the last three weeks, but that work means nothing if it disappears against Miami - especially with recruiting concerns already hovering around the program.
The path for Clemson is narrow, and it’s mostly self-controlled. The Tigers need to run the ball with conviction with Gideon Davidson leading the way, defend at a high level, and stay sharp on special teams.
If they do that, they can put themselves in position to benefit if Miami slips up. If they don’t, Dickert may have just made the Hurricanes even more dangerous.
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For Clemson fans, the bigger concern is what Elliotts struggles might mean in the long view of the programs coaching tree and any eventual Dabo Swinney succession talk. Elliott was once viewed as one of the most prominent names tied to Clemsons future, but the inconsistent results at Virginia have only complicated that conversation and added another layer to a fear Tigers fans already know well. [Read more 🡒]
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The bigger concern for Clemson was how difficult it was to generate much of anything offensively against a Miami team now sitting at 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the ACC. The Hurricanes left little doubt about the gap on this night, while Clemson was left to sort through what went wrong after a lopsided loss at home. In a league where every result can reshape the standings quickly, this one served as a blunt reminder of where the Tigers stand and how much cleaner theyll need to play from here. [Read more 🡒]
Dabo Swinneys Postgame Message Raised A Bigger Clemson Concern
Clemsons home loss to No. 4 Miami did more than drop the Tigers to 3-2 on the season. It also reinforced how far this group still has to go against ranked competition, with the 41-13 defeat leaving Clemson 0-2 in those games and searching for answers after a night when Miamis talent showed up early and often.
Afterward, Dabo Swinney sounded as if he was trying to balance accountability with perspective, talking about freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds development while also pointing to the need for continued growth, focus and better production in the running game. Swinney said he has seen improvement in toughness and physicality since the opener, but the bigger concern now is whether those gains are enough to keep Clemson from getting stuck in the same place when the schedule gets tougher. [Read more 🡒]