After escaping with 17-14 win over Syracuse, it’s become abundantly clear there’s no fixing the Clemson offense in 2021.
After a BYE week to reset the offense, it was more of the same as we’ve seen all year with barely 300 yards of offense, and an ugly 5 for 15 on third down. Here’s the problem, Clemson was really bad on offense Friday, and it was still an upgrade over what we’ve seen most of the year.
Clemson ran for 100 yards, QB DJ Uiagalelei had time to throw, and the receivers actually made a few plays. The offensive line has actually been worse this year. I suppose that progress, but @WillsWorldMN may have nailed the root cause of the problem.
I’ve said this before, but what they want to run, and what he can do, don’t mesh.
— Will Ojanen (@WillsWorldMN) October 16, 2021
Uiagalelei just doesn’t look comfortable running RPO plays. They are executed slowly, and rarely fool the defenders. He’s not as mobile as advertised. He has a cannon of an arm, that Clemson seems to rarely utilize by going vertical.
It’s not just the QB position, though. Clemson doesn’t have a player that can get behind a defense right now, and one isn’t coming.
The Tigers best chance to win games is play low-scoring defensive battles and hope the offense can eventually break the 20 point barrier.
I think 8-4 is the probable ceiling for this team. Maybe if things break perfectly 9-3, but there is another loss coming.
It’s not a matter of if just when it seems, and it could be as early as next week against the Pitt Panthers.
