Clemson football: Maybe being embarrassed by Pitt will wake-up Dabo Swinney

The Clemson football team was embarrassed on the road in a 27-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Panthers on Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers had some opportunities early offensively and weren’t able to convert. Instead, they allowed Pittsburgh to continue to get off the field and then the defense broke on far too many occasions as the game wore on, leading to a matchup where they were down two scores heading into the fourth quarter.

D.J. Uiagalelei was benched after an awful attempted shovel pass that was picked off by a Pittsburgh defensive lineman and taken to the end zone to put the Panthers up 21-7 early in the third quarter and that would be enough to give Clemson its third loss of the season and essentially eliminate the Tigers from ACC Atlantic Division contention.

Maybe being embarrassed in front of the nation again will finally wake-up Dabo Swinney & the Clemson football program

We’ve said it before and Clemson football fans have been angered by it, but we’re going to say it again: Clemson has been passed as a program.

You can say all you want that the offense is poor because of lack of execution or effort, but that goes back on the coaches. If you just looked at this offense without an unbiased eye, you would say that they were one of the worst-coached units in the country.

The lack-of execution falls on the coaches. The lack-of effort falls on the coaches.

It’s time for Dabo Swinney to wake up and realize that the way of doing things back in 2018 isn’t going to get the job done in 2021. And before you say anything, no this isn’t a post calling out Swinney or saying that he isn’t an elite coach.

But, looking forward to the future, Tony Elliott’s conservative play-calling isn’t going to work. Honestly, there are position coaches– including Tyler Grisham and Robbie Caldwell, especially– who should be on the hot seat as we move forward, as well.

Talk all you want about the players and their mistakes, but this 2021 meltdown is on the coaches. This is a poorly-coached team that doesn’t have any discipline or motivation.

The defense came up short against Pitt and they couldn’t get off the field, but they still only gave up 20 points. If the offense is anything close to competent, you still win the game even with a down day from the defense.

Depth was an issue against Pitt, as well, but much of that has to do with Clemson losing players to the NCAA Transfer Portal and replacing their scholarship spot with a walk-on.

Maybe being embarrassed once again and having every single goal yanked off the table– other than winning the state championship– will finally give some clarity on what the program needs to do moving forward.

What used to work a couple of years ago isn’t going to work anymore and there are some major changes that need to come if this Clemson football program is going to compete in years to come because, honestly, this year is already lost.