Morris' "slow" offense puts up points and yards on Saturday

Quarterback Tajh Boyd was off early, but eventually found his rhythm

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Oct 08 10:59:17 GMT-04:00 2012

CLEMSON – Chad Morris Chad Morris
Offensive Coordinator / QBs
View Full Profile ’ offense sputtered at times on Saturday against Georgia Tech, and Clemson’s offensive coordinator even admitted after the game that the tempo was slower than he would have liked.

Despite the sluggish start and two turnovers, the Tigers still managed to score 47 points, pile up 601 total yards of offense, win the time of possession battle over the option-based Yellow Jackets, and run 93 plays to Georgia Tech’s 60.

Morris threw a wry smile at the media in his postgame interview session when he was asked about the “slow” nature of his offense on Saturday.

“We did {slow it down] a little bit,” Morris said. “When Brandon FordBrandon Ford
Gr. Tight End
#80 6-4, 240
Wando, SC
View Full Profile went out, we had to slow it down a little bit. But we had, what, 93 snaps? Yeah, we slowed it down just a little bit. We knew there in the second quarter that we were sitting at 45 snaps, and we knew that we hadn’t played very fast. I didn’t think we had very good control of the offense, and I don’t think Tajh [Boyd] had very good control of it. We were like, ‘Come on, we have to pick it up.’ And I think we did that.”

Boyd missed on several throws early, and admitted his adrenaline got the best of him at times.

“Honestly, I came out a little too hyped. I don’t know what was going on,” Boyd said. “I missed some passes and some easy throws.”

Morris said he did what he could to get Boyd back into a rhythm.

“We all expect Tajh to complete every pass he throws. I’m as guilty as anybody, but he’s human,” Morris said. “I think he showed that today, at times. He wasn’t on. He wasn’t on, early on. I needed to give him some passes that he could complete, just get some confidence builders. He found the groove later on.”

Boyd eventually found his rhythm, but Morris still didn’t like the pace of the offense.

“We knew we had a lot of snaps in the first half, but I didn’t think we were very fast,” he said.

“I thought we were very off, early in the game. I didn’t think there was the passion that needed to be there. I just thought we weren’t relentless enough. I was just very disappointed in the way we started this game, the first two drives.”

He said that the Jackets – with their 3-man front – had a lot to do with it. He also thought his offensive line was not physical enough to just run the football at a team that surrendered chunks of rushing yardage the week before.

“They did some things up front. They twisted their front, brought some pressure,” he said. “I didn’t think we were very physical, at times [in the run game]. We had to challenge our guys on that. I’m disappointed. You have to get ugly sometimes. That’s OK. They responded. I was proud to see the way we were able to run the ball there at the end.”

The Tigers eventually wore the Jackets down – ironic considering that is what Georgia Tech likes to do to opponents – and Morris said it shows that both philosophies can work.

“We ran 93 plays to their 60,” he said. “I know fast paced offenses, you run all the plays, I guess the defense has to play all these plays. They played 60. I think we’re pretty effective with our philosophy and what we were trying to do today. I do think that it was a factor down the stretch.”

The Tigers were also able to convert 13-of-19 third down opportunities in the contest, including two 3rd-and 13’s and several short yardage plays.

“We put so much emphasis on third down,” Morris said. “That is our money down. That is one of the downs that we take a lot of pride in. We talk all week about being able to convert those. But it was short-yardage where we had a lot of success, and I was very proud of that.”