Clemson Football: Analyzing Tigers’ Offensive Line Issues

What was wrong with the Clemson football offensive line against UNC? Here’s a look back at the Tigers’ offensive line issues in Chapel Hill.

The Clemson football offensive line showed some holes last Saturday afternoon when the Tigers took on the North Carolina Tar Heels.

UNC was in the backfield quite a bit and the Tar Heels did a good job getting pressure on Trevor Lawrence and limiting the big plays in the running game.

The Tigers’ offensive line was flagged for five false start penalties and just didn’t look like a veteran group, which they are.

So, what was wrong with the Clemson football offensive line unit last Saturday? Here’s our breakdown of two major things we saw following a second look at the film.

• Poor Discipline, Technique

The first thing you see when watching the film is bad technique when it came to the blockers. On run plays, you can see all too often that the Tigers’ pad level is too high. To get good leverage, you have to squat and use that leg power to push the defender off the ball.

Too many times, there were offensive linemen standing straight up without much of a squat at all. That poor technique also led to bad discipline. The offensive line was out of sorts, being flagged for penalties, and paying attention to the little details and intricacies that made them solid earlier in the season.

Much of the same can be said about pass-protection, especially on the tackles and on the left side of the offensive line.

• Missed Reads

In pass-protection, there were just too many missed reads. This isn’t just on the offensive line. This has to do with the OL, Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne. Guys weren’t picking up on blitzers and weren’t shifting to make needed blocks.

In one circumstance, Sean Pollard should’ve shifted over and picked up a blitzing linebacker. Instead, he’s completely out of position helping double-team and blocked defensive tackle. That linebacker goes straight up the middle basically untouched and Travis Etienne missed him.

Lawrence, Pollard and Etienne have to do a better job at calling out protections and everyone needs to be on the same page going forward, especially in pass-protection.

Overall, the things Clemson football fans saw on film are fixable. The Tigers are talented up-front and there’s no question that they have the skill to improve and get better from a bad performance. They just need to clean up the small things and continue to work on building chemistry, which will come as the season progresses.