There’s only one answer for salvaging anything on this 2021 Clemson football offense and it doesn’t involve D.J. Uiagalelei or the passing game.
Uiagalelei has shown flashes of being able to be great, but he is far too inaccurate and even when he throws a good pass, he isn’t helped out by the fact that his wide receivers drop half of the passes that hit them in the hands.
No, the answer isn’t in the passing game. It’s the running game.
Currently in this Pittsburgh game– Clemson is down 21-7 at the time of this writing– there is only one facet of the offense that has worked and it’s the running game. The Tigers are averaging nearly 6 yards per carry and they are doing it behind three workhorses in Will Shipley, Kobe Pace and Phil Mafah.
The answer for the Clemson football offense lies in activating those three running backs
If you have 70 snaps, you should be running the ball 55 times. Make the defense stop it.
The Tigers have shown the ability to run the ball at least relatively effectively, but the passing game isn’t there and it’s not going to be there no matter what you do with this current group of personnel.
The answer to getting anything going has to be through your explosive running backs and then running play-action based upon those rushing plays.
If you suck the defense in and force them to stack the box, you should be able to find some easy play-action routes that will help the quarterback– who, by the way, likely should be Taisun Phommachanh moving forward– get going.
The Tigers have been absolutely terrible all season and it’s time to at least activate what is working in the offense.
Maybe, it might even win you a game or two along the way.