Clemson football: The truth about Tony Elliott as an offensive coordinator

The truth about Tony Elliott as the Clemson football offensive coordinator

3. Questions we must ask about Tony Elliott as an offensive coordinator

So, knowing these stats and what we’ve seen with our eyes, here are the questions we need to ask ourselves pertaining to Tony Elliott and the offense:

• Is it really just players who aren’t executing, as we’ve been told, or is there a bigger issue?
• Does Clemson’s offense look like the modernized offenses we see dominating CFB today?
• Was there something in those previous seasons that could’ve potentially masked Tony Elliott’s flaws?
• Would this offense be struggling no matter who the offensive coordinator was?
• Could it be that Elliott’s system was once innovative and now it has been figured out?
• If it’s personnel, then who needs to take the blame for making the wrong evaluations on talent?
• What is the identity of the offense under Tony Elliott?

You might answer these questions differently than me and that’s okay.

I can say without question that some of those stats in the past– when Elliott was having success– have been inflated by the fact that the Tigers had two transcendent quarterbacks in Deshaun Watson and  Trevor Lawrence. Many would point to that and say that proves the problem is with personnel, but I would argue that if Elliott needs transcendent talent to run a competent offense, that he’s not that great of an offensive coordinator to begin with.

On the other side of the coin, I can also say without question that the personnel on this current offense hasn’t been good and the execution has been anything but stellar.

But, I can also tell you that there are offenses that have way less talent than Clemson currently who are scoring well over 35 points per game and are playing with much more innovation and excitement than the Tigers currently.