After reviewing the film of Saturday’s 14-8 win over Georgia Tech at Death Valley, Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott still feels the Tigers’ offense is on the right track despite scoring only two touchdowns and being outgained in total yards by the Yellow Jackets, 309 to 284.
“After watching it, we did some good things, but still some things we’ve got to get better,” Elliott said during his media availability on Monday. “I was proud that we were able to find a way. The guys continued to play hard. They all want to have success. So, we’ve got to clean up our ball security. We had a couple drops in some critical situations, some penalties, some times when we were a little bit out of sync, one guy not on the same page. So, still a work in progress. I felt like we’re headed in the right direction.”
Elliott added that he saw improvement from quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei in Saturday’s game, during which he completed 18-of-25 passed for 126 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions while losing a fumble in the fourth quarter.
“I felt like D.J. played better,” Elliott said. “He has three throws in that game that I think he’d want back, but I thought overall he played better.”
As for the end-of-game sequence where the Tigers ran the ball out of the shotgun formation from their own 1-yard line and freshman running back Will Shipley fumbled before recovering his own fumble in the end zone, resulting in a safety, Elliott said “it was a learning situation for all of us.”
“Obviously just creates discussion for us moving forward, how we want to handle that situation,” Elliott said. “So, a lot of room to growth.”
Elliott reiterated that Georgia Tech did a lot of things defensively that the Tigers did not anticipate entering the contest.
“It was a strange game,” he said. “It was one of the first where I’ve been a part of where you got something completely different than what you were expecting. … Wasn’t expecting it, so we had to make some adjustments. Almost felt like it was playing option football. We only got eight possessions in the game, and they were going to make us be patient, put together drives, run the football. They were mixing up some coverages, really trying to confuse the young quarterback they were playing … doing some different things.”
Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.
Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks
