Despite Sluggish Start, Brandon Streeter Extremely Confident In Clemson Offense
ATLANTA, GA- It took more than two quarters to get going, but the Clemson offense finally started to find its groove in the second half of the Tigers' 45-10 season-opening win over Georgia Tech in Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Monday night.
Clemson managed just six first downs and 145 yards of total offense in the opening half. However, offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter never lost confidence in his group and fully believes that second half is a sign of bigger things to come.
"It's definitely gonna be different," Streeter said when asked about the current offense compared to a season ago. "There's no question. Number one, we're more healthy. We had a lot of guys that played and made some plays, and regained some confidence."
That slow start included a mishandled snap and a fumble by quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, both taking place in the first quarter.
"We had a little hiccup in the first half and into the third quarter," Streeter said. "I mean, you take two plays away in the first half, we're scoring more points, you know. We just shot ourselves in the foot. Whether it was a bad snap or DJ didn't catch it, you know? On that first third down, we stopped ourselves, and we're going in to score. Then we had the fumble. Obviously, we gotta get that cleaned up.
"A little bit of a slower start, but we just needed to settle in."
The Tigers really started to settle in that second half, finishing with 386 yards of total offense, with 259 of those coming through the air. UIagalelei finished the night 19-32 for 209 yards, with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown. The Tigers were also 7-16 on third down, converting in some crucial situations in the second half.
Overall, Streeter was happy with what he got from his offense, especially when you consider the fact that it was an opener, on the road, and against an ACC opponent. With the Tigers back in action in just four short days, Streeter is now looking for his group to take another step forward against Furman, despite the quick turnaround.
"We've all watched some football games this past weekend," Streeter said. "You know, that first game, it's always tough to be hitting on all cylinders. So the key now is for us to respond to what happened today and gain confidence from coming back in that second half, and doing some really good things. We came back in the third quarter, you know, we started putting some drives together and finished drives and that's what we're looking for now."
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