Miami Faces Clemson in Death Valley; Hurricanes Seek to Reclaim Past Glory as Tigers Struggle

Corey Hetherman has spent part of this week in the past.

Miami's defensive coordinator is preparing for a Clemson offense now run by Chad Morris, who coordinated the Tigers' offense from 2011-14 and returned to the job 12 years later. The last time Morris called plays in college was 2020, and the film on Morris' scheme is bare after only four games, so the Hurricanes went digging for information.

"We're going back through film from 2013, 2014, 2020, trying to find different plays versus different pictures, different looks, trying to put it together for how we're going to get attacked this week," Hetherman told reporters this week.

That is where these programs stand entering Saturday night's showdown between No. 4 Miami (4-0, 2-0 ACC) and unranked Clemson (3-1, 2-0) in Death Valley. One program has relied on heavy investments in the transfer portal over the past three seasons to build its future; the other remains heavily invested in its past.

Former Auburn football staffer arrested on felony charges tied to recruiting documents Brandon Marcello

The sportsbooks have reflected that new reality. Miami is a 16.5-point favorite at Clemson, the largest spread Dabo Swinney has faced in 245 games and 18-plus seasons as coach, according to CBS Sports Research.

Four years ago, the roles were reversed when Mario Cristobal brought his first Miami team to Clemson in November 2022. The Hurricanes were a 19.5-point underdog and played like it, gaining only 98 yards, a 57-year low for the program, in a 40-10 loss. Clemson won its 40th consecutive home game, the longest home-winning streak in ACC history.

Miami finished 5-7 in Cristobal's first season.

Then Cristobal went shopping for quarterbacks.

Miami hits portal

Cam Ward arrived from Washington State in 2024 and was believed to be the highest-paid transfer quarterback of that cycle. He led the nation with 39 touchdown passes and went No. 1 in the NFL Draft . Carson Beck followed from Georgia on a $4 million deal in 2025, CBS Sports reported, and took Miami to the national championship game, where they lost 27-21 to Indiana . The Hurricanes were the first ACC team to play for a title since Clemson in 2019.

This year it's Darian Mensah , who might be better than both. He left Duke after a legal fight over a two-year, $8 million deal that ended in a settlement, and he signed with Miami to a deal believed to be among the highest in the FBS.

Mensah has delivered, completing 88.7% of his passes with 14 touchdowns and only 12 incompletions, the best marks by an FBS quarterback since at least 1998, the start of the BCS/CFP era.

"I mean, he could be the first pick in the draft. I mean, this is an elite, elite player," Swinney said this week.

Clemson slow to embrace transfers

Clemson was built using older methods, a byproduct of when Swinney won national titles in 2016 and 2018 with high school recruiting, patience and player development. For years, he kept the portal at arm's length. From its launch in 2018 through the 2024 offseason, Clemson took two transfers, both backup quarterbacks. In 2024, it was the only FBS program outside the service academies that did not dip into the portal.

"Honestly, every player is technically a transfer," Swinney said on ACC Network that year. "We just signed a whole class of guys who will transfer in from high school."

That stance drew criticism and jokes in the industry, and then the bottom fell out. Clemson opened 2025 ranked No. 4 in the preseason AP poll and finished 7-6, its worst record in 15 years.

Clemson signed 10 transfers this offseason, by far the most of Swinney's tenure, but it did not add a starting quarterback. Swinney handed the job to Christopher Vizzina , Cade Klubnik's backup. Vizzina threw a pick six in a 51-10 opening loss at LSU and was hurt the next week, paving the way for Tait Reynolds , a three-star true freshman, who has started the last two games and led them to two wins.

The Tigers have settled down since the opener, winning three straight and allowing only six combined points in the second half. But the offense is not what it once was in those glorious playoff years. They rank near the bottom of the FBS in scoring (21 ppg), passing (155.8 ypg) and total offense (314 yards), hovering 120th or worse.

"You got to be able to run the ball efficiently to win games. I mean, you got to be able to throw it to win championships," Swinney told reporters this week.

Miami's transfer quarterback has yet to throw an interception and broke the ACC record with 24 consecutive pass completions in a win at Wake Forest .

"Everybody says you want to affect that guy. Well, you got to find a way to do it too, you know, because right now nobody's done that yet," Clemson defensive coordinator Tom Allen said.

Clemson hasn't defeated a top-five team at home since 2003, when it opened the week as a three-score underdog and then thrashed No. 3 Florida State 26-10. Swinney was a first-year receivers coach at Clemson, fresh off a two-year stint as a commercial real estate salesman, and well on his way to becoming a legendary coach.

That era feels distant, but you don't need to dig deep to recall the deafening noise of Death Valley.

"They're hard to beat at their place. They're hard to beat in general. I don't know if they've gotten beat at their place a ton over the last decade," Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said.

That's true, but that's in the past. This is the future.

Add CBS Sports on Google Join the Conversation comments

_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/miami-clemson-acc-dabo-swinney-mario-cristobal-death-valley/)._