Tigers feel they are close to exploding on offense

D.J. Uiagalelei feels the Clemson offense is close to exploding. The Tigers hope this sudden offensive explosion begins tonight when they visit Syracuse at the Carrier Dome for a seven o’clock kickoff.

Clemson (3-2, 2-1 ACC) cannot afford anymore slip ups in ACC play, as it tries to earn its way back into the ACC Championship Game discussion. The Tigers have won each of the last six ACC Championships and were the hands-on favorite to win it again this season.

However, their struggles on offense cost them in a loss at NC State on Sept. 25, and now they are playing from behind.

“I think we are very close to exploding. I think we are right there,” Uiagalelei said.

The Clemson quarterback is right, they are close. The Tigers are coming off a win against Boston College in which they racked up 438 total yards. However, they left a lot on the field, too.

Overthrows, dropped passes, penalties and not executing on third-and-goal from inside the 5-yard line, caused potential touchdown drives to turn into four B.T. Potter field goals.

“It is just the little stuff that can take us to the next level and where we see ourselves playing as an offense,” Uiagalelei said. “We are right there. The more we keep playing and the more we keep practicing, we are getting closer and closer with each game.”

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney agrees with his young quarterback. He was pleased that the offense made some splash plays in the BC game and that they proved they can drive the football.

Now, it is just a matter of doing that consistently and putting the ball in the end zone.

“You are not going to have a passing game when you don’t have numbers to pass the ball,” Swinney said. “That is what we saw the first couple of ballgames. But when we did, we missed opportunities. We missed some big ones.

“The best we have been was this past game. It was all there. We made some really good plays.”

The Tigers rushed for 231 yards against a Boston College team that was allowing just 98 yards a game on the ground coming in. The running game opened things up and there were finally some big plays from Uiagalelei and his receivers.

But like Swinney indicated, they missed on too many other opportunities and that is something they have to get corrected as they begin the second half of the season.

“We played on a really long field. I was really pleased with how we moved the football, especially off the goal line. We were inside the ten several times,” he said. “We settled for some field goals, but we made a lot of plays. But again, we missed them. We had three or four big drops and at least three misses that are plays we need to make.

“We don’t need to come out of a game with seven or eight plays that we do not make. We need to come out of them with maybe three or four we did not make instead of eight. You would like to make them all, but you cannot have eight to ten plays that are there that you don’t make.”