monday morning quarterback – Syndication Server

Commanders Sam Howell surprised Ron Rivera

Howell’s performance against Dallas was all Rivera needed to see to make him QB1 heading into the offseason.

Ron Rivera was recalling the night of January 8.

Albert Breer, Senior NFL Reporter and Lead Content Strategist for Monday Morning Quarterback, tells the story in his latest work.

Washington had defeated Dallas in the 2022 season finale. Rivera and wife Stephanie were headed back home. Washington had entered the final game at 7-8-1, having been eliminated the previous week when they lost to the Browns 24-10.

Rivera had told Taylor Heinicke he would start the final game, and Heinicke apparently let Rivera know that the wisest thing to do was start rookie Sam Howell in the otherwise meaningless game.

Howell proceeded to complete 11 of 19 passes with a touchdown and interception in the Commanders’ 26-6 victory over the Cowboys. Howell was not stellar, but he did appear, for the most part, in control.

Apparently, before the Rivera’s were inside their home, Coach Ron had determined he was going to convey to Howell at their next meeting Sam would be QB1, that a veteran would be signed to come and also compete for the job. It was Sam’s job to lose.

Oh, the historical revisionism that is going to take place by Commanders fans. Yes, there were the very select few (one of them an acquaintance of mine) who had gone public that Rivera should start Howell much earlier in the season.

Eight out of 10 Commanders fans were glad Rivera had turned to Heinicke over Wentz. They were not at the time declaring Sam Howell would get them to the playoffs. Oh, they will be out in full force tonight and tomorrow telling you how they were, but most of us know better.

It was not until the Commanders were eliminated by the Browns that many of us said it was time to play Sam Howell; I was one of them. Having not played a down since the preseason, I never dreamed Howell was ready.

Coach Ron is going to be crucified for this admission to Albert Breer. That’s how most fanatics are. They are unfair, rarely applying the same standards to themselves that they demand of others.

Some will even claim that had Rivera played Howell against the Browns, the Commanders would have won and made the playoffs. First of all, you can’t honestly assert such. You have absolutely no idea how Sam Howell would have played in his first game when so much was on the line. You only know how he played in the finale with no playoff pressure on him.

Yes, Coach Rivera should have known the Commanders were eliminated with the loss to the Browns. In addition, there should have been several informing the head coach that week of the possibilities. There is much blame to go around on that one.

I have no problem whatsoever with Rivera admitting that Howell really surprised him with how well he handled himself in the final game.

It has not always been pretty, but Uiagalelei deserves some credit

Saturday’s performance against South Carolina was not D.J. Uiagalelei’s best performance. The sophomore quarterback completed just 9 of 19 passes for a season-low 99 yards and threw an interception. Those are numbers, in today’s college football, …

Those are numbers, in today’s college football, that usually signify a loss. However, that was not the case as No. 23 Clemson overpowered rival South Carolina, 30-0, at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. But don’t think Uiagalelei played bad because he did not.

Granted, he threw a couple of bad passes, like most quarterbacks do during the course of game. But also remember, three of his passes were dropped and a South Carolina defender did a good job of breaking up another pass.

Now, I am not trying to defend Uiagalelei’s play this season. He has not always played well this year, and he will tell you the same thing. He has not played to his standard.

However, the 6-foot-4, 250-pound quarterback deserves some credit. He has been out there giving his all for his team and the Clemson fans. Let us not forget, he has played the last four games of the season hurt.

Against Louisville on Nov. 6, Uiagalelei suffered a PCL injury in his left knee. Though banged up, he slipped on a knee brace and rallied the Tigers to victory. He even scored the game-winning touchdown, an 8-yard touchdown run where he hobbled into the end zone standing up.

Since then, Uiagalelei has played through the pain. And he has done it both throwing and running the ball. His performance against the Gamecocks might not rank up there with Deshaun Watson’s 2014 performance, but nonetheless it was a gutty effort.

It was Uiagalelei’s 22-yard run on third-and-11 from the Clemson 49 that set the tone in Clemson’s 30-0 win. Despite his bum knee, the Inland Empire, California native took off running when things broke down and rumbled down field, even cutting once to make a would-be-tackler miss.

The 22-yard run moved the football to the USC 29. On the next play, Will Shipley ran the football off the right side for a touchdown, capping a 73-yard scoring drive on the game’s first possession.

Uiagalelei finished the night with 33 rushing yards. Though he did not put-up huge numbers against the Gamecocks, he did something more. He showed leadership.

When his teammates see him out there playing hurt and making plays on an injured knee, it makes them play hard. It makes them want to play hard for him and help him as much as they can.

We have seen that from the Clemson offense the last four games. Despite all the injuries, despite a starting lineup that has just one senior and two juniors playing, they have come together and have gotten the job done.

Though the Tigers will not have a shot to defend their ACC Championship this year, and though they will not advance to the College Football Playoff for a seventh straight year, they did prove something down in Columbia this past Saturday. They came together as a team, and they finished the regular season with a five-game winning streak.

“It showed the determination and the heart of our team,” Uiagalelei said following the win over South Carolina. “It showed the heart of this team. We have a do-not-quit attitude. We have come out each and every week and played hard and kept our mind right. It showed the heart of our team.”

And though it was not pretty all the time, the Tigers got the job done, while taking the lead from their quarterback.

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Carolina-Clemson or Clemson-Carolina: It’s good ole fashion hate

If you are from the state of South Carolina, you have been waiting for this week to get here for a long time. Why? It’s Carolina-Clemson Week or Clemson-Carolina Week, depending on what side of the fence you are on. It has been two years since the …

If you are from the state of South Carolina, you have been waiting for this week to get here for a long time.

Why?

It’s Carolina-Clemson Week or Clemson-Carolina Week, depending on what side of the fence you are on.

It has been two years since the Tigers and Gamecocks got together on the football field. Last year’s game, of course, was canceled by the SEC due to its own COVID Protocol rules.

So, the two things that have stopped the Palmetto State’s biggest game from being played in the last 125 years is a near war between the two student bodies and a global pandemic. Other than that, the two rivals have meet 117 times on the gridiron, with Clemson owning a 71-42-4 edge.

The Tigers have won the last six in the series and win in Columbia on Saturday will tie Clemson’s own record of seven straight wins over the Gamecocks, which it did from 1934-’40. The most consecutive victories USC owns over the Tigers is five (2009-’13).

The best thing about this game is these two schools and fan bases do not like each other. And the hate between the two is not all about football. The rivalry between Clemson and Carolina goes way deeper than a game.

The bitterness between the two schools goes back before Clemson even existed.

It all started when Benjamin Tillman, a farmer from Edgefield, South Carolina, was not pleased with the way the University of South Carolina was handling its agriculture department and demanded the university take agriculture more seriously.

Tillman, who became the Governor in South Carolina in 1890, through the nastiness of politics, eventually got his way. He was aided by Thomas Green Clemson, who willed his Fort Hill estate to the state of South Carolina with the sole purpose of the establishment of a land-grant college called “The Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina.”

When Clemson opened its doors in 1893, it nearly forced South Carolina to close its doors. South Carolina lost its university status and went back to South Carolina College. Tillman threatened to close the school, but he succeeded to only make it a liberal arts college while in office.

Though it had nothing to do with football, Tillman’s feud with South Carolina planted the seed of hatred these two rivals and their fan bases share today.

The disdain between Clemson and South Carolina has lived out on the football field several times during their 117 meetings and even carried into the streets on one occasion. In 1902, there was a near war between the Clemson cadets and South Carolina students over a picture which showed a Gamecock crowing over a sad Tiger.

The cadets warned the USC students, following the Gamecocks’ 12-6 win not to bring the picture to the Elks’ parade the following day. The South Carolina students did not listen, so more than 400 Clemson cadets marched on to USC’s campus, with guns keep in mind, demanding the USC students hand over the picture.

Eventually, cooler heads prevailed after the police arrived. A joint committee of six students from both sides worked out a peaceful solution. The picture was burned between the two groups.

Due to the seriousness of what happened, the rivalry was suspended and was not renewed again until 1909. Since then, the Clemson-Carolina game was played every year, with the 2019 meeting being the 111^th consecutive meeting. It was the second longest uninterrupted series in college football at the time.

But the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, and though an abbreviated college football season was played in the fall, the SEC—the conference South Carolina is in—only wanted to play conference-only games, thus ending the rivalry’s uninterrupted series.

Prior to the global pandemic, the rivalry survived the Great Depression, two World Wars, the Korean and Vietnam Wars and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which happened 58 years ago today.

The hate between Clemson and Carolina has carried onto the football on a few occasions.

In 1946, counterfeit tickets were sold and fans from both sides were denied entrance when the duplicate tickets were discovered. The mob eventually worked its way into the stadium and flowed onto the sidelines.

Frank Howard, Clemson’s head coach at the time, joked that a woman tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he would take off his hat so she could see the game.

Things got worse when a Clemson fan ran onto the field at halftime and wringed the neck of a live chicken. Both sides stormed the field, and the game was nearly cancelled. Eventually ordered was restored and USC went to win, 26-14.

Another fight amongst the fans broke out in 1961, when members of South Carolina’s Sigma Nu fraternity mocked the Tigers by dressing up like the Clemson team after the real Tigers had already gone into the locker room following pre-game warmups.

The frat boys borrowed uniforms from Orangeburg High School and even had a student dress up like Coach Howard.

The prank was so good, the Clemson band started playing its fight song “Tiger Rag” when the fake Tigers took the field. The Clemson fans stood up and started to cheer, while the USC fans booed.

But soon the people in the stands started to figure something was wrong when the Clemson players mimed milking a cow. Some fell clumsily to the ground while running drills, while others let the ball bounce off their facemask while trying to catch punts.

Eventually, the Clemson fans caught on and stormed the field. There was pushing and shoving, but eventually the game was played, which the Gamecocks won, 21-14.

In 1983, the real Tigers and Gamecocks got into when there was a little brawl near the end of the game at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. Clemson won the game, 22-13, but nothing serious came out of it.

However, there was a big brawl between the two teams in 2004. And there were consequences.

It started near the end of the Tigers’ 29-7 victory.

The fight broke out when Clemson’s Bobby Williamson shoved South Carolina quarterback Syvelle Newton to the ground following an incomplete pass with 5:48 to play. Both benches cleared and chaos followed.

Play was suspended for six minutes and, luckily, no fans ever entered the field. Eventually, law enforcement officers restored order, but the damage was done.

The brawl was shown all over the country and in the days that followed, both Clemson and South Carolina agreed to remove their names from bowl consideration as punishment. Several players from both teams were also suspended for multiple games the following year.

So, as you can tell from the stories above, Carolina-Clemson or Clemson-Carolina is not your typical rivalry and it is not called the Palmetto Bowl, though some people are trying to make us call it that. We call it Carolina-Clemson or Clemson-Carolina. It is just good ole fashion hate.

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History could repeat itself at Death Valley on Saturday

Something very rare is happening at Death Valley on Saturday. Clemson is hosting a ranked Wake Forest team. Saturday’s Noon kickoff will mark just the second time in the series’ history that a ranked Wake Forest team will play at Memorial Stadium in …

Something very rare is happening at Death Valley on Saturday.

Clemson is hosting a ranked Wake Forest team.

Saturday’s Noon kickoff will mark just the second time in the series’ history that a ranked Wake Forest team will play at Memorial Stadium in Clemson. The last time it happened was in 1979.

The Demon Deacons are currently ranked No. 13 in the latest Associated Press Poll. The new College Football Playoff Ranking will be released on Tuesday night.

Wake Forest was ranked No. 12 in last week’s CFP Poll before beating No. 16 NC State. So, the Deacons are likely to be ranked either No. 12 or higher come Tuesday night.

In all, Wake has played the Tigers just five times in the previous 86 meetings as a ranked team. In 1944, No. 17 Wake took down the Tigers 13-7 at Wake Forest. In 1948, No. 10 Clemson beat No. 19 Wake, 21-14, on the way to an undefeated season.

Then, in 1950, No. 16 Clemson again beat the Deacons on the road, 13-12. Wake was ranked No. 17 in that game.

Of course, the most infamous game involving Clemson and a ranked Wake Forest squad came in 2008, when the Demon Deacons knocked off the Tigers 12-7 in Winston-Salem. That following Monday, then head coach Tommy Bowden and Clemson agreed to part ways.

Since 1999, Clemson has lost just three times to Wake Forest (2003, ’05 and ’08) and all three losses came under Bowden.

“I was 7-2 against South Carolina, so if I could, I would have dropped Wake Forest off the schedule and played South Carolina twice every year,” Bowden recently said jokingly.

The last time Wake Forest brought a nationally ranked team to Death Valley was way back in 1979, as John Mackovic led them to Clemson with a 7-1 record and a No. 14 ranking in the AP Poll. That Wake Forest team had wins at No. 12 Georgia, at No. 14 North Carolina and vs. No. 13 Auburn prior to coming to Death Valley.

In fact, they were coming off a 42-38 win over Auburn when they headed to Clemson to face Danny Ford’s 5-2 Clemson Tigers. Similar to this year’s team, the Tigers were not ranked. They struggled to move the football consistently on offense and had a dominating defense.

Clemson was coming off a 16-13 loss to NC State, a game in which Ford decided to go for the win at the end of the game instead of kicking a field goal and settling for a tie. It turned out to be a move that ultimately cost the Tigers a third straight ACC Championship at the time.

But the Tigers did not allow the heartbreaking loss to the Wolfpack to beat them twice. Though Wake had one of the more explosive offenses in the country—sound familiar—it was no match for Jeff Davis and the Clemson defense.

The Tigers were flying all over the place on defense. Davis even returned an interception 13 yards for a touchdown. Wake Forest quarterback Jay Venuto was on his back all afternoon thanks to Davis, Bubba Brown and the Clemson defense.

The Tigers won the game 31-0. After the game, Venuto told reporters all he saw the entire afternoon were orange jerseys everywhere.

I am not saying history is going to repeat itself on Saturday at Death Valley, but if I had to guess, Wake quarterback Sam Hartman will see a lot of orange jerseys flying around everywhere this coming Saturday.

Like in 1979, Wake Forest has one of the most explosive offenses in the country. Like 1979, Clemson has one of the country’s most stifling defenses.

The Demon Deacons lead the ACC and rank second nationally in scoring, averaging 44.7 points a game. The Tigers lead the ACC in scoring defense and rank third nationally, yielding just 15.3 points a game.

Something has to give, right?

Who knows? Maybe history will repeat itself.

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Saturday was a ‘sweet, sweet night’ in the Valley

Dabo Swinney called Saturday’s win over Florida State one of the top 5 wins of his coaching career. When he said it, it kind of caught me and a few other members of the media by surprise. Sure, it was a big win. But top 5? This is a coach who has …

Dabo Swinney called Saturday’s win over Florida State one of the top 5 wins of his coaching career.

When he said it, it kind of caught me and a few other members of the media by surprise.

Sure, it was a big win. But top 5?

This is a coach who has won two national championships and coached in big-time games. Besides those two national championship victories over Alabama, he has knocked off Ohio State twice in the national semifinals. He has defeated Oklahoma and Notre Dame in two other semifinal matchups.

He also guided the Tigers to an Orange Bowl victory over the Buckeyes and has won seven ACC Championships. He even has a couple of wins over the Seminoles that could classify as top 5 victories.

So why was Saturday’s 30-20 victory over a below average Florida State team so big?

“It was special. It is unbelievable. I can’t put into words what all we have done this year. I mean, I really can’t,” Swinney said after the game. “We just make stuff up along the way.”

In other words, the Tigers are just finding ways to win games. Yes, it has not been pretty, but they find ways to win despite the fact that have suffered through 29 significant injuries, lost 10 players for the season, and have started 43 different players.

Every week in seems like the offensive line has a new lineup, and that might be the case again this coming Saturday against Louisville after center Mason Trotter left the FSU game just before halftime due to a lower leg injury. His status for Saturday’s game at Louisville is questionable, as is right guard Will Putnam and running back Phil Mafah, who also suffered injuries on Saturday.

“It was the way it needed to be,” Swinney said. “There were a lot of mistakes, but it was an unbelievable team win. You saw the foundation of our program tonight. That is what you saw. When you have a great foundation, you can build something great, but you can also withstand adversity and the storm when it comes.

“The foundation of our program is effort. It is toughness. It is physicality. It is an absolute no-quit attitude, and it is an unshakable-does-not-even-make-any-sense type of belief in yourself and in your team. That is the foundation of our program here and it always has been. You saw a team stand on that tonight. You saw that shine through.”

We saw that belief play out in front of our own eyes. The Tigers could have quit after FSU’s Jermain Johnson stripped sacked D.J. Uiagalelei and picked up the loose football and rumbled six yards for a touchdown with 7:39 to play.

After the season Clemson has had to this point, it would have been easy for this team to rollover and quit after Johnson’s fourth-quarter touchdown gave the ‘Noles the lead. And maybe some of the 79,000 fans at Memorial Stadium did quit on the Tigers after that, but the Tigers did not quit.

Instead, they got up off the mat, dusted themselves off and found a way to win the game when no one thought they could.

Yes, they got a little help from FSU, but freshman running back Will Shipley still had to run 21 yards for the go-ahead score, and twice the defense had to stand tall and hold off an FSU team that was not going to quit either.

In other words, it was a big win, and in Swinney’s own words, “It was a top 5 victory.”

“I might have to redo (my list),” he said. “But this one is in there. There is no doubt about that, I am counting all of them. I played in a national championship too. I have a few of those.

“It was just incredible. Again, I have just not been through anything like this, where you are just like, ‘What’s next? What else is going to happen this season?’ But to see these guys hang in there and keep battling and to see out staff do the same thing, it is even sweeter. This was a sweet, sweet night.”

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There are more things to worry about at Pitt than Tigers’ offensive woes

It is time to stop focusing on how many points you think Clemson should score every week and start worrying more about how the Tigers are going to win football games. Right now, Clemson’s offense is what it is. It is not very good, and I do not know …

It is time to stop focusing on how many points you think Clemson should score every week and start worrying more about how the Tigers are going to win football games.

Right now, Clemson’s offense is what it is. It is not very good, and I do not know if it is going to get any better. The Tigers continue to have the worst offense in the ACC, averaging a league low 20.5 points per game and just 322.3 yards of total offense, 13^th in the conference.

Clemson’s issues have been all over the place. It has been inconsistent quarterback play. The offensive line has made its fair share of mistakes and the receivers have been downright terrible to this point. Injuries to key players have not helped matters, either.

Head coach Dabo Swinney credited his receivers with five drops in the Tigers’ win over Syracuse this past Friday.

But the media and the fans hounding the coaches and players each week is not going to fix any of these issues. Only they can fix it. If they can at all.

It is time to accept the notion that they may not get things fixed. So, now it is time to hope Clemson can continue to find ways to win football games, like they have thus far.

You do know, Clemson (4-2, 3-1 ACC) is three plays from possibly being 1-5. The defense got a goal line stop to in the final seconds to beat Georgia Tech. If Boston College quarterback Dennis Grosel does not fumble the snap, we do not know how that game ends. And then Syracuse missed a field goal that might have forced overtime, and who knows how things would have gone in the extra period.

The Tigers, who play at No. 23 Pittsburgh on Saturday, have been living dangerously on the edge and, as we know, it is due in large part to their deficiencies on the offensive side of the ball.

But hounding the offense to get better or questioning every play call or mistake is not going to help the Tigers win a game, especially against Pitt.

Unlike Clemson, the Panthers (5-1, 2-0 ACC) are not having any issues on offense. They lead the ACC in scoring (48.3 pts/game) and total offense (530.5 yds/game).

Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett is the ACC’s top passer. He is averaging as may yards throwing the football (322.3 yds/game), as Clemson is in total offense.

Pickett leads the ACC in touchdown passes (22). He leads the ACC in the fewest interceptions thrown (1) and he is completing nearly 70 percent of his throws (69.8 percent).

Yes, Clemson’s offense needs to get better this week. But I doubt it will. All of those mistakes just do not go away.

Granted, Clemson’s defense is second in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 12.5 points a game. They will travel. They will come to play.

But it is hard to expect they can keep Pickett and the Panthers out of the end zone with the way the Panthers are playing.

So, at least for this week, you need to stop worrying about Clemson’s offense and instead just hope your Tigers can find a way to win this game at Pitt. Because, as of right now, I don’t know if they can.

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If you look closely, you saw some life in Clemson’s offense

I know this might sound a little crazy, especially coming off a loss, but if you look closely, you could see some improvement in the Clemson offense. Now, before you start sending me DMs or coming at me on Twitter, I just want you to hear me out for …

I know this might sound a little crazy, especially coming off a loss, but if you look closely, you could see some improvement in the Clemson offense.

Now, before you start sending me DMs or coming at me on Twitter, I just want you to hear me out for a second.

Yes, overall, the Tigers played horrible in their double overtime loss to NC State this past Saturday. There is no disputing any of it. They had just 214 total yards.

Yes, there were bad throws. There were dropped passes and there were offensive linemen running around that looked lost and confused at times.

But there were signs that they did improve, a little. Go look at the two touchdown drives in regulation.

For the first time this year, the Clemson offense looked like its old self. Why was that you think?

It is simple. They executed.

After a 5-yard run by Will Shipley, D.J. Uiagalelei threw his best pass of the season, at the time, to Joseph Ngata. It was a 29-yard completion to the Wolfpack 46.

Following a penalty that moved the football to the 32, a play later, Uiagalelei rolled to his right and with all day to throw the ball, he then threw his best pass of the entire season, a laser to Justyn Ross in the back of the end zone.

He threw the pass where only Ross could get it and Ross rewarded his quarterback by making the best catch of the season. That gave Clemson a 7-0 lead with 9:11 to play in the first quarter. It was a five-play, 80-yard drive that took just 1:33 off the clock.

Another sign that the offense is getting better came in the fourth quarter, now with the Tigers trailing.

Again, the Tigers looked like the offense we all expected them to be at the start of the season. Down 14-7 with 13:33 to play, they started from their own 20.

On third down-and-eight, Uiagalelei completed an 11-yard pass to Ross on the near sideline for Clemson’s first third-down conversion of the afternoon. The Tigers were 0-for-7 on third down prior to that completion to Ross.

On the next play, Shipley ripped off a 16-yard run to move the football to the 49. After another completion to Ross, this time a 9-yard gain, Uiagalelei broke the pocket decisively and rumbled 37 yards to the Wolfpack 5.

Shipley then finished off the seven-play, 80-yard drive, that took just 2:11, by running untouched into the end zone. The 5-yard touchdown tied the game at 14-14, with 10:52 to play.

In overtime, the offense looked confident, especially the Tigers’ quarterback. Uiagalelei ran for 11 yards on one play, then on third-and-seven, from the NC State nine, he hit Ross in the middle of the end zone with a perfect strike. Even better, the offensive line gave him the time he needed to let the play develop.

In the second overtime, Uiagalelei opened that drive with a nice pass around the goal line. It was a pass only Ross could get, but as Ross tried to bring the ball in, the NC State defender got his hand in just enough to disrupt the catch and the Clemson receiver was unable to haul the pass in.

On the last play of the second overtime, Uiagalelei again threw a pass only Ross could catch, but again, the Clemson receiver was unable to bring in the pass. In both cases, though, they were difficult throws, Uiagalelei looked confident in delivering them and he threw them where only his guy could catch them.

So, the signs are there. Granted, they still have a lot of work to do, and they need to be more consistent. But for the first time this year, I saw some real signs of life in this Clemson offense, and that gives me confidence that they will get things turned around.

Football season has finally arrived. Time to represent your Tigers and show your stripes!

No one paying attention to Clemson’s obvious issue on offense

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 …

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), 12^th in passing (188.7 yds) and 11^th in rushing (134.0 yds).

To compare that from a national standpoint, Clemson is ranked 105^th in scoring and 114^th in total offense. It is ranked 94^th 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!

There’s a lot to take away from first 9 practices of preseason camp

Clemson held its first scrimmage of preseason camp Saturday at the Poe Indoor Practice Facility, completing the Tigers’ ninth day. What have we learned about the 2021 Clemson Tigers through the first nine practices of camp? No surprise, the defense …

No surprise, the defense is pretty darn good, especially the defensive line, while on offense the running back competition might be a three-man race.

During Saturday’s scrimmage, Lyn-J Dixon and Kobe Pace shared the bulk of the carries with the first team offense. But freshman running back Will Shipley also got some carries with the first group. With two days remaining in camp, it appears the Tigers are no close to solving who its starting running back will be than it was at the start of fall camp.

On the offensive line, Clemson felt pretty good about where it was at with its center position. For a third straight season, the Tigers will have a new center and coming out of the spring it appeared redshirt sophomore Hunter Rayburn had a strong hold of the position.

However, Rayburn has been inconsistent in camp so left guard Matt Bockhorst has slid over and cross trained at the position. Bockhorst started Saturday’s scrimmage at center. The redshirt senior shared first-team reps with Rayburn and Mason Trotter, according to head coach Dabo Swinney, during the two-hour scrimmage.

Offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said Bockhorst got a lot of good work at center. If Bockhorst does win the starting center, freshman Marcus Tate might be the Tigers’ answer to start at left guard. He has been working with the first-team offense at left guard when Bockhorst has worked the center position.

As for the backup quarterback battle, the Clemson coaches have still not indicted when Taisun Phommachanh will return to full speed, but the redshirt sophomore looks closer than we once thought. Phommachanh did not participate in Saturday’s scrimmage, but during the first eight practices he participated in almost every drill, except live ones.

He is running well on his left Achilles, which he tore in the final minutes of the Spring Game on April 3.

As for the other quarterbacks, freshman Will Taylor has really shinned and had another good day in the scrimmage. Swinney also liked the way fellow freshman Billy Wiles played, saying he had a solid scrimmage.

But as of right now, the Tigers’ backup quarterback will likely be walk-on Hunter Helms.

“Hunter, he just looks like he’s been here for a year or so,” Swinney said. “He’s put a lot of work in, he knows our system.”

On defense, the story has been all about the defensive line. We all knew the D-Line would be the strength of the unit, especially with its starters. However, what has come out of the first nine practices is the depth of the line.

Guys like Tre Williams, Ruke Orhorhoro, Darnell Jefferies and Etinosa Reuben have all been singled out by Swinney and defensive coordinator Brent Venables at some point in camp, giving the Tigers solid depth at defensive tackle.

Clemson entered camp extremely deep at defensive end with Myles Murphy, Xavier Thomas, Justin Mascoll, K.J. Henry and Justin Foster all in the mix. But now, Swinney has singled out sophomore Kevin Swint, who moved over to defensive end from linebacker in the spring, as a guy who is making plays and is giving the Tigers another possible playmaker at the position.

Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!