Clemson's Offensive Issues are Defined; Identity is in Question

Many of Clemson's strengths offensively have fallen off in the last few games. How has it happened and how do the Tigers get back on track?

© Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

No. 10 Clemson was non-competitive at No. 20 Notre Dame last week. 

And as much as the defensive front got pushed around and took the brunt of the loss, the offense actually feels like it's in worse shape.

This is November, aka the "championship phase" in the Dabo Swinney program, but the Tigers lack an identity offensively at the worst time. 

"Up until two games ago, (the offensive identity) was being really good on third down, taking care of the ball, led nation in red zone, had some explosiveness built into it," Swinney said about Clemson's scoring attack the first six or seven games. "And we've been able to respond all season up until this past game. We need to get back to doing what we do. We are built to run the football and build off that. I think we've been able to do that."

If running the ball is Clemson's identity, why are starting running back Will Shipley and quarterback DJ Uiagalelei rushing less when things are going wrong?

Before the last two games (a 27-21 win over Syracuse and a 35-14 loss at Notre Dame), Uiagalelei had double-digit rushes in four consecutive games, but he had eight against Syracuse and nine at Notre Dame. 

Shipley had a career-high 27 carries against Syracuse. He produced 172 yards. Against the Irish, Shipley had 12 carries. He averaged over 7 yards per run on his first seven carries in the first half. In the second half, he had just five rushes as the Tigers fell behind 28-0 before scoring two late touchdowns. 

That doesn't feel like an identity. Let's take a look at what's happened as of late:

What about explosive plays? 

That's a key element in playing winning football. Being able to rack up chunk yardage not only makes drives easier and fills up the scoreboard, but it can also take the air out of an opponent and make them feel like they have no shot at stopping you. 

Right now, Clemson's offense isn't producing them. 

"We can't throw the catchable balls that we need to throw. We can't catch the catchable balls that are being thrown," passing game coordinator and tight ends coach Kyle Richardson said. "We're getting penalties when we got positive plays."

That's certainly a large part of the problem. Just how bad has the lack of explosiveness been the last few weeks?

In the first six games of 2022, Clemson averaged 5.7 plays of 20+ yards per game. Against Florida State, Syracuse and Notre Dame, the Tigers have produced just eight of those kind of explosive plays (2.6 per game).

What about third downs?

This was a huge strength early in the season, and Clemson established itself as a team that could convert and create first downs to keep drives alive at one of the highest rates of the Swinney era. 

And then, it's just stopped. 

In the first seven games, Clemson converted just a hair over 50% of its third downs. In the last two games, the Tigers are a combined 9-of-26 (35%). 

Part of the problem with a lower third-down conversion rate is what's happening on first and second down. Clemson ranks 125th nationally in the percentage of first downs that come on first and second down. 

They aren't setting themselves up for easy conversions. Against Notre Dame, the average distance to go to get a first down was 9.6 yards. That's way too far to have to go on third down for even a decent conversion rate. 

"We lived in third-and-long all night Saturday night," Richardson said. "That's something that we haven't done this year."

What about the red zone?

In the first seven games, this was also a huge positive. Clemson ranked tied for first at 100% in converting points inside the 20-yard line. They were the best team in the country in turning drives that reach the opponent's 40-yard line into points as well. 

"We're fifth in the country in red-zone offense, which was a struggle last year," Richardson said. "We've been consistent in that all year in red-zone offense."

However, the Tigers have had a drive in the red zone in each of the last two games not turn into points. 

When you have a small margin of error against teams like Notre Dame, this really matters, especially when that red-zone miss is a turnover that turns into points for the other team, which is what happened the last two games. 

How do the Tigers fix it?

Identifying the problem is easy. Correcting is the hard part.

First and foremost, quit giving the ball away. That an easy one. 

The coaches believe there's a lack of confidence that's developed over the last couple of weeks. It's hard to feel good about when you can't protect the ball.

Clemson has turned the ball over at an insanely-high rate (6 times) in the last two games. That's not only killed drives and scoring opportunities. That can lead to players getting down on themselves and others. 

Committing to the run in a similar fashion as last year when the offense never got on track wouldn't be a bad idea. 

But if Clemson wants to get past Louisville this week, beat Miami and South Carolina to end the regular season and make noise nationally with a win over likely ACC Championship Game foe North Carolina, the Tigers absolutely have to get back to creating explosive plays. 

That puts a lot of onus on Uiagalelei and a receiving corps. It's a group that's had just three players record a reception against Notre Dame. Only two had catches against FSU and Syracuse. 

One of the receivers who had catches at Notre Dame is out this week. Beaux Collins is dealing with a shoulder injury and won't play against Louisiville. 

This isn't a reliable group, so Clemson will need to continue to get production out of the tight ends and running backs in the passing game. 

The obvious key to all of this is Uiagalelei. He looked greatly improved from last year for the first seven games. The last two have been more reminiscent of 2021, and he's been benched in both. 

Some of these conversations about a lack of identity are also eerily similar to this time last year. 

"We've seen some good progress and we've seen confidence that we've needed coming out of the offseason," Richardson said. "We've hit a little rut here in the last two weeks, and we got to find a way to get out of it."

Clemson hopes that's all it is, and the Tigers will be tested against a good Louisville pass defense. 

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