Duke won at Clemson Saturday afternoon, 46-45 in an ACC thriller. Clemson from top to bottom wasn‘t happy with the loss and it’s understandable, but they are mostly focused on a questionable call late in the 4th. That’s not their biggest problem from this game though.

Duke was driving and with :49 on the clock, the Blue Devils were on Clemson’s 20 yard line and it was 4th down. Darian Mensah got a pass off but Clemson was called for interference. Nate Sheppard scored on a three yard run after that to make it 45-44.

A lot of people thought it should have been off-setting penalties and they have a reasonable argument.

However, there are two problems with that.

First, the only reason why that play was so critical is because Clemson had so much trouble stopping Duke in general and on that drive in particular: Duke drove 94 yards to get there. They also had a 100 yard return earlier. A poor call would hurt anyone in that situation obviously, but Clemson put themselves in position to have a call hurt them, too.

And secondly, Clemson couldn’t stop a two-point conversion with the game on the line.

Officials can sometimes decide a game, but that wasn’t the case here.

We read after the game that Clemson was 134-0 when scoring at least 45 points entering today’s game. We also read that this is Clemson’s sixth straight home loss to a Power Four team. Clemson is just not very good, and ultimately, that’s what decided this game.

Dabo Swinney was irate about the call, but he, too, admitted that his team’s defense was awful.

All that aside, Clemson had some serious meltdowns on the sidelines. Swinney screamed at his players, who seemed unconcerned or at least disengaged, while co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Mickey Conn blew a gasket, screaming and gesturing aggressively at defensive coordinator Tom Allen.

That sort of public freakout can’t be tolerated from an assistant and more to the point, there is pressure building on Swinney as well.

Clemson clearly struggled with Duke, but the bigger struggles, perhaps, may be internal. Things are not looking good in Tiger Town.