College football 2018: Biggest Achilles’ heel for every Top 25 team

2. Clemson

Achilles’ heel: Kelly Bryant vs. Trevor Lawrence

The talk about Clemson going into last season is that they could potentially have one of the greatest defensive lines that we’ve seen in recent memory in college football. They certainly lived up to that billing as well as they terrorized opponents up front game-in and game-out. What’s wild is that the talk about the Tigers heading into the 2018 campaign is the exact same conversation as they returned all four starters up front as they elected to return to school.

Subsequently, defense will once again be the strong suit of Dabo Swinney’s group in the 2018 season. That was the case last year, and it led to Clemson earning the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. What can’t be forgotten, however, is the fact that the Tigers were dominated in their semifinal matchup against Alabama. The reason why wasn’t their defense, but rather their lack of a consistent offense. And the main culprit for that was Kelly Bryant.

Fast-forward to the 2018 spring game and Bryant was flat-out out-played by incoming freshman five-star Trevor Lawrence. Thus, a quarterback battle was born in for the bright orange and everyone is waiting with bated breath to see how things transpire in that regard.

While having two different and talented quarterbacks may not seem like a bad thing, it could create tension for the Clemson offense this season when there are question marks outside of that position. If that tension leads to any sort of instability at the position, the offense could again cause the defense to not be able to capitalize on their immense talent.