Clemson's struggling offense looking for an identity

Clemson managed just 314 yards against Syracuse.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Oct 19 08:00:06 GMT-04:00 2021

CLEMSON – Clemson’s once-potent offense lacks an identity, and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott says he’s never gone this late in a season without knowing exactly what the identity is. He also wants more explosive plays in his offense.

However, he thinks that identity can still be found and he’s excited to see how his young offense responds.

"I'll be honest, no,” Elliott said when he was asked if he’s ever gone this long without an offensive identity. “It's challenging, but at the same time there's an excitement to see how these guys are going to respond. I can't wait until this takes off. I think everybody believes each week that it's going to happen, and that's why they're practicing the way they're practicing. I think they understand the challenge this week, that this would be a great week for everything to fall into place. The mistakes are correctable. It's not like guys just going all over the place.

“A lot of it is guys losing their one-on-one matchup. We have a screen out in the first drive, and Ajou Ajou, a young guy, is a little bit confused so he stops and the play results in a TFL. Now you have to go empty and take a shot and try to get the ball downfield. You have five-man protection and you get a sack. You get going and have a bad snap, or a bad penalty. So it's all correctable. I think guys understand what we're doing and communication was good for the most part."

What does he want that identity to be?

“I want that identity to be a confident group of guys when we throw the ball, and when we run the ball, we stretch you sideline to sideline,” Elliott said. “We put the ball down the field. If you're going to play back, then we can put together drives. And I know we had an extension with the fake punt, but you got two drives there that were like 13 plays. And you've seen that these guys are capable of putting together drives, but we need to get the explosion back in our offense.”

Clemson’s offense ranks 122nd nationally in plays of 10 yards or more, just ahead of schools like Kansas, UNLV, and Army, so it doesn’t bode well for finding that explosion as the team enters the second half of the season.

Elliott was asked how the coaches find a way to motivate without stripping away confidence.

"Trying to lead by example and making sure we have the inside-out mentality. Just challenging the guys to block out the noise. It's a different year for everybody in college football. Some of the outside distractions that have come in,” Elliott said. “Not using that as an excuse, but I think young people are dealing with a lot more now than they have in the past and trying to balance that. The good news is the guys are continuing to play hard and they haven't splintered. They're aware of the issues and they understand what needs to be corrected. We have to find a way to transfer what we're doing in practice to the game, that's probably the biggest challenge that we have.

“The last several weeks of practice, by the end of practice on Thursday to game day on Saturday, there's a little bit of disconnect. We'll have all 11 for about two or three plays, then have one guy make a critical mistake that sets the drive back. The way the whole program is set up, especially with coach Swinney, is it's inside-out and coach Swinney is positive, energetic like he always is. At the same time he's challenging us to do our job as coaches at the highest level. This unit here is different than in year's past, not quite as many vocal leaders, so we have to step in and help. You're starting to see DJ's play has improved.

"It's the guys around him have not quite played consistently enough to do what we're capable of. Making sure we're challenging these guys but at the same time showing them the potential. Because what they're hearing from the outside is probably mostly negative so we have to get them to cut that out and get them to focus on what they control."