Clemson football: Still a lot work to do before Tigers are championship ready

Clemson football has to figure out who they are and do it quickly.

If the 2020 version of Clemson football is going to actually put itself in a position to win a national title, they have to figure out who they are.

Saturday night in Death Valley, Clemson football came out on fire and played with unparalleled focus and grit. As the first quarter turned into the second, Clemson seemed to go back into being the highly inconsistent team that they have been all season long.

That statement will upset some fans, but the truth will do that to people.

Clemson football cannot and will not win a national title until they learn to play and more importantly the coaching staff learns to coach for four full quarters. Save the responses of Dabo loves to play everyone – because as you enter the championship phase, you can’t play everyone and win a national title.

Look across any sport, as teams advance into the playoffs and move throughout the playoffs, their benches get smaller and smaller.

Clemson football coaches arent championship ready either.

Tony Elliott may have called his best game ever in the first 15 minutes and then went back to being good old predictable Tony Elliott and only calling routes that are within six yards of the line of scrimmage. Tony wasn’t the only issue.

That said, there are a few that want Tony fired, while I would not go that far, this offense cannot take the next step inconsistency until he becomes a head coach somewhere. Yes, this offense averages more than 40 points per game, but most of that has to do with this roster being loaded with some of the best talents in the country and not because their offensive coordinator does a great job of calling plays.

Players got sloppy as the game went on. Too many penalties, too many boneheaded mistakes, and too many guys in uniform and in coaching shirts not checked into the game after building a 31-0 lead.

There are clearly a lot of things this Clemson team has to work on in order to be championship ready and they are running out of time.