As Clemson’s offense continues its search for consistency late in the season, the Tigers aren’t doing themselves many favors in the turnover department.
It’s something that’s gone from an outlier to a trend in recent weeks.
Clemson outlasted Louisville on Saturday despite committing three more turnovers, running their total to nine over the last three games. That’s in stark contrast to the way the Tigers’ turnover margin was trending through the first seven games. Clemson committed just five turnovers during that span with the offense being responsible for only three of those.
Then came Clemson’s four-turnover fiasco against Syracuse on Oct. 22, and the Tigers have turned it over multiple times in every game since. A pair of turnovers forced by Clemson’s defense helped shrink that margin against Louisville, but the Tigers have lost the turnover margin in all three of those games.
Clemson has now lost as many turnovers as it’s gained on the season, but there’s a balance that has to be struck between being aggressive and cautious within the offense, coordinator Brandon Streeter said. Despite putting the ball on the ground twice, Will Shipley combined with Phil Mafah and quarterbacks D.J. Uiagalelei and Cade Klubnik to help the Tigers rush for 248 yards against the nation’s No. 25-ranked rush defense last week.
“It’s a tricky thing,” Streeter said. “Like a lot of things, it’s mental, too. If you over-talk about it, then I think sometimes it just continues to happen.”
The good news, at least in Streeter’s opinion, is that Clemson’s recent issues with holding onto the ball are easily fixable. Streeter pointed to the Louisville game as an example. Shipley and receiver Antonio Williams both lost a fumble while trying to fight for extra yards.
“Shipley is working his tail off, but any time the wrist gets below the elbow, that means (the ball) is loose,” Streeter said. “If you don’t have it high and tight, then you don’t have as much strength around the ball. And obviously that’s the main objective of the defense is trying to get the ball back, so we’ve just got to continue to emphasize and then practice those fundamentals that can help prevent it.”
Uiagalelei also lost a fumble in the pocket while looking to pass during the first half after having the ball knocked from his grasp by defensive lineman Yasir Abdullah. He was holding onto the ball with just one hand, another fundamental mistake that Streeter believed would’ve been avoided had Uiagalelei protected the ball with two hands.
“D.J. took his front hand off the ball and the guy knocked it out in the pocket,” Streeter said. “Those are things we work every day, but we’ve got to enforce it on game day. He’s got to take that over to game day.”
Streeter said he doesn’t want to take his players’ aggressiveness away, but the fundamentals have to remain intact. Doing both, he said, would go a long way in helping the Tigers clean up their act.
“I think you’ve got to coach up the details of the fundamentals because you appreciate the guys that are working hard to get extra yards, trying to escape the pocket or whatever it is,” Streeter said. “Every single situation, just talking about Saturday, that happened is correctable based on fundamentals.”
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