A lot of people are wondering what is wrong with Clemson’s offense.
Being held to three points in a loss to Georgia is nothing to be ashamed about. The Bulldogs after all have perhaps the best defense in college football.
But there were reasons to be alarmed. Clemson ran for just two yards that night in Charlotte, the fourth worst rushing performance by a Clemson offense in school history. They finished the night with just 180 total yards overall and quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei was sacked seven times.
It seemed the Tigers might be working out the kinks against S.C. State in Week 2. They rushed for 242 yards on 36 carries for a 6.2 yards per carry average. They scored 49 points.
It was not a perfect performance, but it was improvement.
Few people expected Clemson to score 49 points against Georgia Tech this past Saturday, but they expected more than what they got at Death Valley.
The Tigers (2-1, 1-0 ACC) scored just 14 points on what is a very average Georgia Tech defense. They did manage 158 yards on the ground, but they averaged a mediocre 3.85 yards on 41 carries. To put that into better perspective, Northern Illinois had a better yards per carry average (3.93) than Clemson did on the Yellow Jackets.
Overall, Clemson, who is loaded with four- and five-star talent on its offense, had 17 less total yards (301-284) and eight less points (22-14) than Northern Illinois.
Do you want to know how bad Clemson’s offense is? Right now, the Tigers rank last in the ACC in total offense through the first three weeks of the season.
The Tigers are averaging just 322.7 yards per game. They are 13th in scoring offense (22.0 pts), 12th in passing (188.7 yds) and 11th in rushing (134.0 yds).
To compare that from a national standpoint, Clemson is ranked 105th in scoring and 114th in total offense. It is ranked 94th on the ground and 101 through the air.
In other words, it’s bad.
But why?
Why is Clemson having its worst year from an offensive standpoint in more than a decade?
There are a lot of things to blame. There is not just one thing.
And though everyone wants to point to the play calling, the play of Uiagalelei or the offensive line, no one is talking about what seems to be the biggest issue.
What is that you ask?
There is no Travis Etienne.
Think about it. Clemson had some of the same issues on the offensive line, perhaps even a little worse since it had no depth, and it was still able to take some shots down field.
Etienne’s presence alone, made defenses have to respect the run and that allowed Clemson’s play action to work. It is the ultimate compliment to the type of college player Etienne was.
Linebackers and safeties had to worry about what he was doing at all times. Defensive ends had no choice but to crash inside on every run or play action.
And this is no disrespect to any of the running backs the Tigers currently have on their roster, but defenses are not worried about them. Not yet.
They are not respecting Clemson’s running game at all. They are not biting on the play action and why should they?
Etienne was a guy who had proven over and over again he could take a handoff, or a screen pass and he could break it for 80 yards. The longest run for Clemson on Saturday was 15 yards. The longest reception was 17 yards.
Coincidence?
I do not think so.
In three games, Clemson has had just one play over 40 yards this season and, believe it or not, that came against Georgia, a 44-yard pass from Uiagalelei to Joseph Ngata. The biggest play against S.C. State was a 38-yard Uiagalelei-to-Ngata pass.
How does Clemson fix it? I don’t know.
I know this much. Travis Etienne is not coming back, so they better figure out something.
Football season has finally arrived. Time to represent your Tigers and show your stripes!
