Recent turnover issues ‘tricky thing’ for Clemson’s offense

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 …

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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Uiagalelei responds amid ‘do-or-die’ scenario

After watching his starting quarterback put together back-to-back subpar performances and his team having a chance to win another ACC Atlantic Division title outright Saturday, Dabo Swinney was ready to make a switch at the position earlier if …

“This was kind of a do-or-die day,” Swinney said of D.J. Uiagalelei. “It’s just where we were.”

The momentum of what had been a renaissance season for Uiagalelei through Clemson’s first seven games came to a screeching halt in the last two. Uiagalelei was completing right at 65% of his passes and had accounted for 21 touchdowns and just two interceptions through the season’s first half and change.

Then came the three-turnover fiasco against Syracuse in which he matched his turnover total for the season to that point. Uiagalelei followed that up with a lackluster showing at Notre Dame a week ago that included his fourth turnover in two games, which the Fighting Irish turned into a 96-yard pick-six en route to a 35-14 win that sent Clemson crashing from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Uiagalelei was pulled from both games in favor of true freshman Cade Klubnik, though the switch didn’t happen until the second halves. On Saturday, against a Louisville defense that’s been the most opportunistic in college football this season, Swinney wasn’t going to wait around.

“There was no way he was going to have an opportunity to go out there and stink,” Swinney said. “The guy has won 14 games in a row (as the starter), and he has a bad game against Syracuse, so you’re not going to bench your quarterback. Now he didn’t play great at Notre Dame, but nobody played great. We didn’t coach great either. But everybody’s got to take ownership, and no question he needed to play well.”

It wasn’t perfect, but Uiagalelei bounced back with a performance that didn’t require a quarterback change until the game was in hand in the final minutes. Uiagalelei completed more than 70% of his passes (19 of 27) and, for the first time since the Florida State game on Oct. 15, finished with more touchdown passes (1) than interceptions (0). He accounted for more touchdowns (2) than turnovers (1) in Clemson’s 31-16 win.

“He responded and played his butt off,” Swinney said. “Just really proud of him. Made some big-time plays.”

Uiagalelei built some confidence early thanks in part to getting involved in the running game again. Clemson called less designed runs than usual for the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder against Notre Dame, but the Tigers got Uiagalelei back involved with his legs on their first two offensive plays, runs that netted a first down and helped get Uiagalelei get into a rhythm from the jump.

“I definitely like getting hit early and just kind of get into the game,” Uiagalelei said. “You’ve got to get hit to kind of get your body into the game and into a rhythm. All the juices go out, and you just keep playing.”

Said Swinney, “We just wanted to get him hit early and get him going.”

Clemson bogged down later in a drive that looked like it might end in a punt when the Tigers faced third-and-15 from its own 31-yard line, but Uiagalelei fired a strike to Joseph Ngata along the sideline for a 24-yard completion that kept it alive. Uiagalelei was in the end zone seven plays later on an 11-yard run, helping the Tigers grab some early momentum.

“That third-and-15 was one of the plays of the game, and we were able to go down and score,” Swinney said.

Clemson led 10-7 midway through the second quarter when Uiagalelei had his lone hiccup. He lost a fumble – his fifth turnover in the last three games – when Louisville edge rusher Yasir Abdullah quickly got past left tackle Jordan McFadden and knocked the ball from Uiagalelei’s grasp.

Swinney blamed that miscue more on a lack of protection from the offensive line, which is why he said he didn’t consider making the switch to Klubnik then.

“(Uiagalelei) didn’t really get the ball pretty secured, and the guy was on him real quick,” Swinney said. “It was a little more on the o-line right there, but we’ve all got to do a better job there at every position taking care of the ball.”

After Clemson’s defense got a stop, Uiagalelei came back on the next drive and capped a 10-play, 80-yard march with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Williams that extended the Tigers’ lead to 17-7 just before halftime. Clemson led by three scores early in the second half after a 25-yard touchdown run by Will Shipley, but Uiagaleiei completed five of his last seven passes to help keep the offense moving.

It wasn’t until the Tigers still had a two-touchdown lead midway through the fourth quarter that Klubnik came on for a couple of series.

“Good to see him back on track, and hopefully that will really propel him to go have a great finish,” Swinney said of Uiagalelei. “Because he’s had a really good year outside of two games. So hopefully that’s a sign of how he’s going to finish.”

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Clemson’s run game finds footing again in latest win

Clemson’s rollercoaster season on the ground went back on the upswing Saturday. After its best rushing performance of the season just a few weeks ago against Syracuse, the Tigers dipped to their worst showing on the ground a week ago against Notre …

Clemson’s rollercoaster season on the ground went back on the upswing Saturday.

After its best rushing performance of the season just a few weeks ago against Syracuse, the Tigers dipped to their worst showing on the ground a week ago against Notre Dame. Clemson mustered 90 yards in that 35-14 loss on just 25 attempts, getting away from the running game even when the game was still in reach.

On Saturday, the Tigers went to the ground early and often, finding their collective footing again with 248 rushing yards.

“I felt like we needed to (recommit to the running game) after last week,” offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said. “We know we can run the football. We keep feeding those backs, and they’re going to find way sot make big plays.”

Phil Mafah led the way with a season-high 106 yards on just 10 carries while Will Shipley averaged 5.1 yards on his 19 carries. The former five-star recruit produced the biggest highlight with a 25-yard touchdown run in the third quarter in which he hurled a Louisville defender on his way to the end zone.

After pounding on Louisville defense time and time again with 45 rush attempts, Mafah finally broke the Cardinals when he busted free for a 39-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter that gave Clemson its largest lead at 31-10.

And D.J. Uiagalelei was a part of the mix again. Uiagalelei, who was averaging more than 44 yards a game on the ground coming in, had just 23 rushing yards against Notre Dame, most of that a result of four sacks that counted against his rushing total. But Clemson also didn’t call his number nearly as often on designed runs. His first against Notre Dame didn’t come until the third quarter.

But the Tigers started Saturday’s game with a pair of called runs for their 6-foot-4, 230-pound quarterback that resulted in a first down, and Clemson continued to use his legs afterward to lean on the Cardinals’ defense. While his rushing total (32 yards) was again affected by a pair of sacks, Uiagalelei finished with 15 carries – six more than he had the previous week.

“I felt like D.J. has run the ball really, really well when we’ve given him an opportunity to do so,” Streeter said. “That’s a big deal for an offense when you’ve got multiple ways to run the football. It makes it really, really hard on that defense, especially when they’re a defense that’s bringing a lot of pressure.”

The Tigers came into the game with the nation’s 49th-ranked rushing offense, a respectable spot that put Clemson among the top third among FBS teams. But Clemson was averaging just 142 rushing yards against teams not named Syracuse and Louisiana Tech, which statistically owns the worst run defense in the country.

Against Louisville, though, the ground game came through against a Cardinals’ unit that began the day yielding the 25th-fewest rush yards in the country on a per-game basis. Louisville also came into the game 11th nationally in tackles for loss, using plenty of different looks and pressures to wreak havoc up front and force an FBS-leading 24 turnovers coming into the day.

The Cardinals forced Clemson into three more, two of those coming on fumbles by Uiagalelei and Shipley. But the Tigers also ripped off their share of chunks on the ground, finishing the day at 5.5 yards per tote.

“I really think our guys did a great job all week long of fitting up some of the runs we had game-planned against this defense,” Streeter said. “And they just worked their tails off all week. A lot of studying and a lot of working together.

“We talked about communication all week long too, so that was a big thing for us up front is making sure they were communicating. That way, they’re making the right calls. And that way, we can pick up all the different stuff they were bringing. The communication was probably the biggest piece to the puzzle.”

The Tigers did it without starting right guard Walker Parks, who missed his first game of the season with an injury. Mitchell Mayes filled in there and helped pave the way for the Tigers’ third-best rushing performance of the season.

“Our scout teams did a great job of giving us great looks because they’re all over the place,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said of Louisville’s defense. “There’s a lot of pressure, but just good communication and IDing things.

“We can finish it a little bit better, but it was, all in all, a really good day running the football.”

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Identity crisis?

What is the identity of Clemson’s offense? That was a question posed by The Clemson Insider to players and coaches this week, including head coach Dabo Swinney. The answers were varied and far from concrete. “That’s a good question,” said tight ends …

What is the identity of Clemson’s offense?

That was a question posed by The Clemson Insider to players and coaches this week, including head coach Dabo Swinney. The answers were varied and far from concrete.

“That’s a good question,” said tight ends coach Kyle Richardson, who doubles as the passing-game coordinator.

Nine games into this season, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the strength of the unit is. At least consistently.

“One thing that sticks out to me about this offense is just the love that we have for each other,” senior tight end Davis Allen said. “We’re extremely, extremely close. Closer than what I’ve noticed in the past, but we’re fast, physical, smart and confident.”

Not everyone agrees with the latter part of Allen’s sentiment.

“I think it’s just a lack of confidence and not just with the quarterback,” Richardson said. “It’s across the board, and we’ve just got to get that back and get back to being consistent.”

The best thing Clemson has going for it at the moment is the running game. Swinney went as far as to say the Tigers are “built to run the football,” but that may be a stretch. Statistically, Clemson’s running game is among the top 50 in the country, ranking 49th at 174 yards per game, but those numbers have been inflated by what have been a pair of outliers so far.

Even with former five-star signee Will Shipley atop the running back depth chart, a bruising complement in 230-pounder Phil Mafah, help from a more mobile D.J. Uiagalelei and a more cohesive offensive line, Clemson has only eclipsed the 200-yard rushing mark twice this season. One of those performances came against Louisiana Tech, which statistically owns the worst run defense in the FBS (234.2 yards allowed per game).

Clemson has averaged just 142 yards on the ground in its other seven games and is coming off its worst rushing performance of the season with just 90 yards against Notre Dame.

The most consistent the Tigers have been is with their situational offense. Clemson’s third-down and red-zone conversion percentages both rank in the top 20 nationally, but with a running game that goes hot and cold and a passing game that’s spinning its wheels, there’s no clear answer on the best way for Clemson to go about trying to move the ball between the 20-yard lines.

Uiagalelei and his receiving corps had the look early on of a group that was ready to leave their 2021 struggles behind. The Tigers averaged nearly 280 yards passing through the first four games, including that brilliant 371-yard, five-touchdown performance from Uiagalelei that helped the Tigers hold off what was then a ranked Wake Forest team on the road in late September.

It’s been a regression since. The Tigers haven’t thrown for more than 220 yards in any of the last five games, and the explosiveness that had returned through the air early on has largely vanished with a group of receivers that has been hit or miss.

Beaux Collins, who had four touchdown grabs through the first four games, has caught just two passes in the last three. Freshman Antonio Williams has recently emerged as Uiagalelei’s primary target (team-leading 33 receptions), but the speedy slot receiver has averaged 6.5 yards or less per catch in three of his last four games.

Shipley has as many receptions as Joseph Ngata (24). Shipley and tight ends Davis Allen (second on the team with 27 catches) and Jake Briningstool (four TD receptions) have been targeted just as much if not more than the receivers, none of which have more than five catches in a game this season. Collins is the only wideout with more than two touchdown catches.

“I think the identity for us is we’re one play away from being great and we’re one play away from being just average. And that’s where we are right now,” Richardson said. “There have been a couple of balls that are thrown uncatchable that if they’re thrown catchable, it’s a different ballgame. There’s a couple of balls that have been very catchable that are not caught, and it’s a different ballgame. That comes from the receiver room and the tight end room. Then there’s a couple of plays where we’ve handed it off to Shipley or Mafah and we are one block away and it looks like it’s there and we get a shoestring tackle based off of one block.”

The production through the air has been worse than it’s been at any point this season in recent weeks. Clemson had a season-low 157 passing yards against Syracuse and followed that up with just 191 last week against Notre Dame. Uiagalelei was benched in both of those games for freshman Cade Klubnik, but the quarterbacks have combined to throw as many interceptions as touchdown passes (4) in the last three games.

Those turnovers have been part of another inconsistency for the offense. Clemson has coughed it up six times the last two games after turning it over just five times in the first seven.

“Right now, we’re just in a rut, and we’ve got to find a way to get out of it,” Richardson said.

Given the current state of the passing game, Clemson’s best bet going forward may be to lean on the running game. But Clemson hasn’t always committed to it despite Swinney’s belief in the Tigers needing to use the run to set up the pass.

Clemson did in wins over Florida State and Syracuse, getting Shipley 47 carries in those two games. But even after rushing for a season-high 293 yards against the Orange – and with strong winds swirling inside Notre Dame Stadium – Clemson quickly went away from the running game against the Fighting Irish even before things got out of hand.

Shipley, who’s averaging nearly 6 yards a pop for the season, got just seven carries in the first half despite averaging 7.4 yards on those attempts. And Uiagalelei was hardly used at all in the run game, a peculiar development considering the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder was averaging nearly 44 yards on the ground coming into the game. His first designed run wasn’t called until early in the third quarter.

“I think the biggest reason was sometimes there were calls where he had a run and he threw it, so there were some RPO (run-pass option) thoughts there, too,” offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said afterward. “It was kind of a mixture there, but I probably should’ve gotten him the ball a little bit more as a runner there in the first half.”

So what is the Tigers’ offensive identity? Depends on who you ask.

“Up until two games ago, it was an offense that was really, really good on third down, and we’re still good on third down,” Swinney said. “It’s an offense that was taking care of the football and an offense that was scoring and had some explosiveness built into it. Led the nation in red-zone scoring until a couple of games ago, and I think we’re still top 5 in the country.

“All of those things. But we’ve got to get back to doing what we need to do.”

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Clemson weary of turnover issues against ‘opportunistic’ defense

While the setback to Notre Dame may have been ugly, Clemson still just has one loss on the season. Given the issues the Tigers have had keeping the ball way from the opposition recently, Dabo Swinney considers his team fortunate that it’s not yet …

“You’re lucky to be 1-1 in those two games,” Swinney said.

The Tigers have strayed from the norm its last couple of times out in the turnover department. Clemson turned it over twice against the Fighting Irish, which came on the heels of that four-turnover fiasco against Syracuse two weeks earlier.

After committing just five turnovers in its first seven games, Clemson is a combined minus-5 the last two in the turnover margin. If the Tigers don’t clean up their act Saturday against Louisville, that losing skid feels inevitable, particularly considering the type of defense Clemson will see inside Memorial Stadium.

“We’ll get beat again because this bunch is very opportunistic,” Swinney said.

In fact, there hasn’t been a defense in college football more opportunistic than Louisville’s. The Cardinals are tied for the FBS lead with 24 forced turnovers. Eight of those came in one game – Louisville’s 48-21 upset of then-No. 10 Wake Forest just two weeks ago.

Louisville likes to force the issue with a pressurized approach under coordinator Bryan Brown. The Cardinals also have as many sacks on a per-game basis as any team in America and rank 11th in tackles for loss.

Swinney said Louisville has blitzed on nearly of its defensive plays this season. He compared the Cardinals’ approach to that of Syracuse’s defense, but the Cardinals are “bigger, stronger, faster and longer” than the Orange, particularly along the defensive front, Swinney said.

Fourteen players have at least one sack for Louisville with an interior lineman, YaYa Diaby, leading the way in that department (6.5).

It’s a high-risk, high-reward degree of aggressiveness that’s conducive to forcing teams into mistakes, something Clemson’s offensive line as well as D.J. Uiagalelei and Cade Klunbik will have to try to avoid. The quarterbacks have accounted for all but one of Clemson’s turnovers the last two games, two of those leading directly to points for the opposition.

Swinney noted it would help if Clemson’s defense could create some more turnovers of its own – the Tigers have just three takeaways in the last four games – but protecting the ball against a defense that’s made it hard for other teams to do so is the top priority for Clemson this weekend.

“That makes a huge difference in winning and losing,” Swinney said. “That’s one of those things you have to do to win. You don’t have to be perfect, but you need to win the margin. We’ve done a pretty good job of that, but these last two games, it’s not been good. W’eve been really sloppy with the ball.”

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Richardson sheds some light on Uiagalelei’s recent struggles

After showing marked improvement during the first half of the season, D.J. Uiagalelei’s dropoff has been swift. Clemson’s quarterback spent the first seven games regaining his confidence following a forgettable 2021 season. Uiagalelei accounted for …

After showing marked improvement during the first half of the season, D.J. Uiagalelei’s dropoff has been swift.

Clemson’s quarterback spent the first seven games regaining his confidence following a forgettable 2021 season. Uiagalelei accounted for 21 touchdowns and just three turnovers in those games, showing better decisiveness and accuracy as a passer while emerging as a legitimate running threat.

His last two performances have been on the other end of the spectrum.

Uiagalelei has accounted for four turnovers and just one touchdown in Clemson’s last eight quarters, averaging 164.5 passing yards in those games. Two of those turnovers led directly to points for the opposition, one being a 90-yard scoop and score for Syracuse and the other a 96-yard pick-six in Notre Dame’s rout last week.

Uiagalelei was benched in both games for true freshman Cade Klubnik, who finished the Syracuse game after coming on in the third quarter. Uiagalelei is in line to start against Louisville this weekend after coming back against Notre Dame and leading a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown drives, but Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has suggested the leash will be a shorter one come Saturday afternoon.

Tight ends coach Kyle Richardson, who also works with Uiagalelei as the passing-game coordinator, shared his thoughts earlier this week on what he believes is contributing to the funk Uiagalelei suddenly finds himself in.

“D.J. is the type of kid that he doesn’t want to let people down, and he puts a lot of pressure on himself because of that,” Richardson said. “So I think in some of those situations, he’s looking for the perfect look. He’s looking for the perfect read. He’s looking for the perfect throw, the perfect play. And that just doesn’t exist in football. There’s too much stuff going on offensively that he doesn’t control and that coaches don’t control. And there’s too much going on defensively that nobody controls on the field.”

When Uiagalelei hasn’t been throwing errant passes, some of his indecisiveness has led to sacks that have effectively ended drives for the Tigers. Notre Dame got to him for four sacks last week, many of which Swinney chalked up to coverages sacks that could have been avoided if Uiagalelei had thrown the ball away and lived to play another down.

Richardson said there were times where he asked Uiagalelei what he was seeing once he got back to the sideline after some of those plays. Sometimes what Uiagalelei is seeing on the field and what the coaches are seeing from the sideline are different, so there are times, Richardson said, where Uiagalelei is making the right decision whether it be where he delivers the ball on a called pass play or whether or not to throw it, hand it off or keep it on a run-pass option (RPO).

Of course, those are all split-second decisions that have to be made, something Richardson understands given his background. He coached quarterbacks as a highly successful prep coach at Northwestern High in Rock Hill before initially moving on to Clemson as an offensive support staffer in 2016.

“It’s a really tough position to play,” said Richardson, who coached NFL quarterback Mason Rudolph at Northwestern and worked with Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence at Clemson. “It’s a tough position physically but mentally it’s tougher than any position. So there’s a fine line where you’re not in his head too much and you’re not predetermining how to throw balls and the reads that have to be made because you can’t do that at quarterback. You’ve got to see what’s happening live and you’ve got to see it post-snap.”

It’s not like Uiagalelei hasn’t shown he’s capable of performing at a much higher level. It was just seven weeks ago that he lit up Wake Forest for 371 passing yards and five touchdowns, matching the Demon Deacons score for score in a double-overtime win.

Richardson said coaches can help him, too, by putting him in some better situations. But more than anything, Richardson said, Uiagalelei has to forget about trying to be a perfectionist, trust what he’s seeing on the field and get back to letting it rip.

“That’s probably the biggest thing,” Richardson said. “He’s got to trust himself and trust what he does at practice every day because if he wasn’t the guy, he wouldn’t be playing. He wouldn’t be at this level. He wouldn’t be at Clemson. He wouldn’t have gone to Notre Dame two years ago and did what he did then. He can do it. He’s just got to trust himself, trust his reads and trust his coaching.”

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Richardson: ‘We’re a very average offense’

Clemson’s offense began the season on an upward trajectory. The Tigers started things with 41 points in their opening win against Georgia Tech, more than they scored against any FBS opponent during last season’s yearlong struggle. A few weeks later, …

Clemson’s offense began the season on an upward trajectory.

The Tigers started things with 41 points in their opening win against Georgia Tech, more than they scored against any FBS opponent during last season’s yearlong struggle. A few weeks later, in its ACC opener, Clemson exploded for 51 points and more than 550 yards in a double-overtime over a then-ranked Wake Forest team on the road.

But it’s been a steady decline since that reached a low in an anemic showing against Notre Dame over the weekend. Clemson mustered just 3.3 yards a play through the first three quarters of its 35-14 loss, and its only points came in garbage time after the Fighting Irish already had a four-touchdown lead.

With a season-low 281 yards, it was the fourth time in five games that the Tigers have failed to surpass 370 total yards. Their scoring average has dipped from more than 41 points to 27.2 during that span, and the Tigers have been held to one score or less in six of their last eight quarters.

“Right now, we’re a very average offense,” passing-game coordinator Kyle Richardson said. “And we’re average at all positions.”

Richardson, who also coaches tight ends, said he can’t pinpoint why the offense has suddenly hit a wall, though there have certainly been some glaring contributing factors starting with the quarterback play.

After a hot start that saw him account for 21 touchdowns and just three turnovers through the first seven games, D.J. Uiagalelei has nearly as many turnovers (4) as touchdowns (5) over the last three. He’s been pulled from the last two games, but freshman Cade Klubnik, who threw a pick on his only pass attempt against Notre Dame, hasn’t fared much better in limited action.

Their struggles have contributed to a minus-5 turnover margin for the Tigers over the last two games, a stark contrast from the first half of the season when Clemson turned it over just five times.

“The narrative early in the year was they’re great at the turnover margin and protecting the football,” Richardson said. “The last two weeks, that’s not been the case.”

But Richardson refused to lay all of the blame at the feet of Clemson’s triggermen. Clemson’s primary rotation of receivers (Beaux Collins, Joseph Ngata, Antonio Williams, E.J. Williams, Adam Randall, Brannon Spector) has combined for just 21 receptions over the last three games while the running game has been hit or miss for much of the season.

“There’s a couple of balls that have been very catchable that are not caught, and it’s a different ballgame. That comes from the receiver room and the tight end room,” Richardson said. “Then there are a couple of plays where we’ve handed it off to (Will) Shipley or (Phil) Mafah and we are one block away and it looks like it’s there and we get a shoestring tackle based off of one block. … That’s where we are right now.”

As for how the group gets out of the rut it suddenly finds itself in, Richardson started with a baby-steps sentiment that was eerily similar to one coaches and players voiced in the preseason: Build confidence and go from there.

“We played kind of free there for a while, and I don’t know what’s happened to kind of trigger it back to where you can just tell we’re kind of hesitant,” he said. “And I’m not just talking about quarterback. I’m talking about a lot of areas. We’re just kind of hesitant. Man, just let it loose.

“It’s across the board, and we’ve just got to get that back and get back to being consistent.”

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The latest on Clemson’s quarterback situation

Is D.J. Uiagalelei still Clemson’s starting quarterback? And will Cade Klubnik get more game reps whether or not they include the beginning of the game? Head coach Dabo Swinney addressed both a day after the Tigers ended up on the wrong side of a …

Is D.J. Uiagalelei still Clemson’s starting quarterback? And will Cade Klubnik get more game reps whether or not they include the beginning of the game?

Head coach Dabo Swinney addressed both a day after the Tigers ended up on the wrong side of a rout against Notre Dame on Saturday, one that saw Uiagalelei get pulled yet again for the true freshman in the second half.

Swinney said he’s still got confidence in both signal callers despite their recent struggles, though he only provided a specific answer to one of those questions Sunday.

“(Uiagalelei) has certainly got to get back on track, and obviously Cade made a mistake,” Swinney said. “Probably put him in a bad spot, but just a poor decision there. But we want to continue to bring him along and continue to get him some opportunity. But D.J. is still a guy that we believe in.”

The mistake Swinney was referring to was an interception Klubnik threw in the shadow of his own end zone on his first series of the game late in the third quarter, which contributed to it being his only series he played. It was part of another subpar performance at the position for the Tigers that has many pondering how Swinney will handle things there when Clemson returns to ACC play Saturday against Louisville at Memorial Stadium.

After being benched for most of the second half against Syracuse in Clemson’s previous game, Uiagalelei returned to the starting lineup against Notre Dame. But the Tigers’ first seven possessions under his direction ended in a punt or a turnover on downs as Clemson was shut out in the first half. Still trailing 14-0 late in the third quarter, Clemson again turned to Klubnik, though his night lasted just two plays following the ill-advised pick.

Things got even worse when Uiagalelei re-entered the game and threw a red-zone interception – his fourth turnover in the last two games – that was returned 96 yards to give Notre Dame a commanding 28-0 lead early in the fourth quarter. Uiagalelei led a pair of touchdown drives after that, but the damage had been done.

Clemson, which finished with a season-low 281 yards, threw for less than 210 yards for the fourth time in the last five games, again doing little to help a running game that’s been Clemson’s most consistent offense of late. While Swinney didn’t explicitly say Uiagalelei would remain the starter this week, he suggested as much when he mentioned Uiagalelei’s 14-1 record in that role in Clemson’s last 15 games.

Acknowledging the position will continue to be assessed was the only information Swinney was willing to divulge on the matter.

“I like how (Uiagalelei) finished, but just too many misplays and things that he’s got to clean up,” Swinney said. “And we’ve got to continue to get Cade some opportunity and keep evaluating that.”

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The good, the bad and the ugly from Clemson’s loss to Notre Dame

Clemson’s College Football Playoff hopes were dealt a potentially catastrophic blow Saturday with its lopsided loss to Notre Dame. Now the Tigers will try to rebound when they jump back into ACC play this week against Louisville. Here’s the good, …

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from the Tigers’ 35-14 setback:

The good

There isn’t much from a game in which Clemson was being shut out through the first three quarters, but Will Shipley was the lone bright spot for the offense.

One could certainly argue the Tigers’ primary running back should’ve been featured just as heavily as he had been the last couple of games, particularly when the game was still reasonably close. Because Shipley averaged more than 5 yards per carry on his 12 carries. He also had five receptions and accounted for 101 all-purpose yards.

Shipley got Clemson on the board with his 11th rushing touchdown of the season early in the fourth quarter. It was too little, too late with the Tigers down 28-0 at the time, but it was a sign that Clemson wasn’t going to quit. The Tigers pieced together 75-yard scoring drives on their last two possessions, showing some fight on an otherwise forgettable night.

The bad

For the second straight game, Clemson’s quarterback play was nowhere near good enough when the game was still competitive.

D.J. Uiagalelei played most of it after watching the majority of the second half against Syracuse from the bench, but the Tigers’ starter wasn’t much better against Notre Dame. He was inaccurate at times and indecisive at other times, which led to some bad sacks after Uiagalelei held the ball too long. Cade Klubnik relieved him for one series late in the third quarter but was intercepted on his lone pass attempt, which ended his night. The two combined for more interceptions (2) than touchdown passes (1).

One of those picks was returned 96 yards for a score, making it two straight games that one of Uiagalelei’s turnovers has directly resulted in points for the opposition. It contributed to Clemson losing another turnover battle. The Tigers, who didn’t get a takeaway, are minus-5 in the turnover department in their last eight quarters.

The play-calling left a lot to be desired, too. Offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter acknowledged there was a “little bit of an adjustment” with the approach through the air given the stiff wind that was blowing inside Notre Dame Stadium, but the Tigers spent most of the night unsuccessfully trying to attack the perimeter with screens and swing passes and rarely attacked vertically with the passing game, which continues to lack the explosiveness it had seemed to regain during the first half of the season.

On a night when the Tigers averaged just 7.1 yards per completion, Clemson’s top pass-catchers were a tight end (Davis Allen, seven catches) and a running back (Shipley, five). Antonio Williams was the leading receiver with just 26 yards.

“We just didn’t execute good enough,” Streeter said. “In the end, we just didn’t do good things.”

And special teams were anything but. Notre Dame set the tone for its rout when Ruke Orhorhoro whiffed on a protection block on Clemson’s first punt, which allowed Notre Dame to come free for a block that resulted in its first touchdown.

The ugly

With just 281 total yards, the offense was the least productive it’s been all season. Yet arguably the biggest surprise was what Notre Dame’s offense was able to do to Clemson’s defense up front.

Clemson’s front seven is littered with next-level talent, which has been as big a reason as any as to why the Tigers have owned a top-10 run defense nationally over the last two years. Yet it was hard to tell Saturday.

It’s been a long time since that group has been dominated at the point of attack like it was Saturday. Notre Dame ran roughshod over, around and through the Tigers for 263 of their 348 yards, easily the most the Tigers have allowed this season. During one of the Irish’s scoring drives in the first half, they ran the ball on 10 of 11 plays.

A Clemson defense that came in allowing the seventh-fewest rushing yards in the FBS had no answers on a night when Notre Dame averaged nearly 6 yards per carry. Logan Diggs (114), who ripped off an average of 6.7 yards on his 17 totes, and Audric Estime (104) each surpassed 100 yards on the ground, becoming the first teammates to do that in the same game against Clemson in a decade.

Now, barring sheer chaos around the country the rest of the way, a return to the CFP will be wishful thinking for the Tigers.

What now for Clemson at quarterback?

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Another game, another quarterback switch for Clemson. This one wasn’t as extended, but Clemson coach Dabo Swinney once again made the move to Cade Klubnik on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. It begs the question: What’s the …

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Another game, another quarterback switch for Clemson.

This one wasn’t as extended, but Clemson coach Dabo Swinney once again made the move to Cade Klubnik on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. It begs the question: What’s the situation behind center now for the Tigers?

“We’ll just evaluate everything,” Swinney said.

Notre Dame may have very well dashed the fourth-ranked Tigers’ College Football Playoff hopes with a decisive 35-14 win – one in which the Fighting Irish scored 28 of their points before Clemson had any – but Swinney and offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter benched D.J. Uiagalelei for the true freshman late in the third quarter. At the time, Clemson still had a fighting chance down just two scores.

Unlike two weeks earlier when the turnover bug stopped the offense, Clemson simply couldn’t muster much of anything while it held the ball. On a night when Clemson produced its fewest yards of the season, the Tigers punted on six of their first seven possessions with Uiagalelei behind center, the outlier being a turnover on downs.

After a fifth straight possession that failed to reach Notre Dame territory, and with time running out, Clemson summoned Klubnik with 1 minute, 20 seconds left in the third quarter.

“We had kind of said going into that if we didn’t really get anything going on that drive, let’s see if we can just create a little spark,” Swinney said of the timing of the switch.

Klubnik finished the Tigers’ comeback win against Syracuse after coming on in relief in the second half of that one, but Saturday’s appearance wasn’t nearly as celebratory. Klubnik’s lone series ended in disaster when he rolled out and tried to make a throw back across his body from his own end zone while being pressured. The pass was intercepted, and Notre Dame quickly pushed its lead to 21-0 with another touchdown two plays later.

“Cade is trying to make a play, and I hate that for him,” Swinney said. “It was a bad decision. You’re throwing back across your body, and their kid made a good play.”

Uiagalelei came back in for Clemson’s next series and helped put together Clemson’s longest drive at the time (56 yards), though some pass-interference penalties on Notre Dame proved to be the primary assistance. But Clemson’s biggest scoring threat to that point was thwarted when Uiagalelei’s underthrown pass in the red zone was intercepted by Morrison, who put a 96-yard exclamation point on the Irish’s rout.

Swinney said Uiagalelei and Ngata were both to blame for the pick-six as a result of miscommunication. But on a night when Clemson was going to need the passing game to bail out a running game that was held to a season-low 90 yards, it wasn’t nearly good enough.

The final combined line for Uiagalelei and Klubnik? 27 of 40 passing for just 191 yards with one touchdown and two picks. Uiagalelei was also sacked four times, some of which could’ve been avoided, Swinney said.

“There were a couple of plays that we felt like he probably should’ve made,” Swinney said. “Thought he held the ball and took a couple of bad sacks when the protection was there. You’ve got to get rid of the ball. There were just a couple of those plays.”

Swinney said he liked the way Uiagalelei bounced back from his lone turnover to lead a pair of late touchdown drives, but it wasn’t exactly the vote of confidence Uiagalelei got publicly from his coaches in the aftermath of the Syracuse game. Yet while the sample size is significantly smaller, there hasn’t been much from Klubnik to show that he’s ready to handle the biggest moments.

It leaves Clemson with more questions at the position heading back into ACC play this week.

“We’ll see how it goes and get back to work,” Swinney said.