Elliott says Uiagalelei played longer Saturday to help build confidence

Elliott says Uiagalelei battled through issues Saturday.

by Zachary Wagner - Correspondent - Sat Nov 13 20:40:05 GMT-04:00 2021

CLEMSON - Well, it wasn’t a one-score game for the Clemson football team this week, something we haven’t seen since the second week of the season against South Carolina State. The offense was inconsistent at times, and at other times moved the ball down the field at will on the Huskies. The Tigers produced 476 yards of total offense, 347 of those coming through the air.

Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei completed 21 of his 44 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown pass to Beaux Collins for the second week in a row. The sophomore also threw an interception in the second quarter where he stared Collins down before letting the ball go.

Clemson was also without its top two running backs in Will Shipley and Kobe Pace who suited up, but did not play in the win. The majority of the carries were split by sixth-year senior Darien Rencher and true freshman Phil Mafah.

Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said they left Uiagalelei in the game so long to continue working on his confidence and production level.

“DJ (Uiagalelei) was in a position to play, he practiced all week,” Elliott said after the game. “Definitely wanted to let him play to continue to build his rhythm and his confidence, that was the thought process there. You saw Taisun in there early, we were working our two-quarterback package a little bit, but he banged up his shoulder and that is why DJ played a little more than we may have liked to.”

“I thought he battled through his struggles today, I think our wideouts could have helped him a little bit,” Elliott said of Uiagalelei. “I was proud of how he finished, I thought he finished the first half well, and started the second half well.”

The Tigers only rushed for 129 yards on the day, well below what many expected against a lackluster UConn defense. While Clemson was without its top two backs, Elliott was surprised by the lack of production in the ground attack.

“It wasn’t what I was expecting,” Elliott said. “Give credit to UConn, they had a good plan and were ready, they had a couple weeks to prepare. They stopped our prominent run, the inside zone and tried to get us into some outside stuff. Overall I want to watch the tape and see what happened. We weren’t consistent enough.”

The offense also stalled some drives out in the first half, scoring 30 points against the Huskies with opportunities to score much more. Elliott is not worried about the inconsistency issues heading into a tough matchup next weekend against Wake Forest.

“No concern, just an opportunity for us to reset our focus,” said Elliott. “We’ll get some guys back and ready to go and challenge some guys from a leadership standpoint. It’s a great learning opportunity, but what the guys have shown this year is how they respond and rebound. We’re not going to make something bigger than it actually is, but they know what is at stake and what we’re playing for.”