The Clemson Tigers offense was not operating with its normal clockwork efficiency.
The Tigers offense was stagnant, but they made just enough plays to win the game over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 14-8 on Saturday. The game was halted due to a weather delay for nearly two hours late in the second quarter, with 32 seconds remaining. The Tigers were leading 7-3 at the time of the stoppage. The score remained the same until halfway through the final stanza when RB Will Shipley scored a rushing touchdown making the score 14-3 in favor of Clemson before Georgia Tech attempted a comeback.
Clemson was able to make a crucial game saving stop two yards away from the end zone with 15 seconds left. The Yellow Jackets tried a shovel pass up the middle after a misdirection play to the left and Clemson’s LB James Skalski was not fooled and made the game saving tackle.
The game still had some twist and turns left in it. Clemson decided to put their signal caller D.J.Uiagalelei in the shotgun formation and Shipley ran it up the middle. He fumbled the ball just as he got out of the end zone and then it took a Georgia Tech favorable bounce backwards. Shipley recovered the ball. If Georgia Tech had recovered the football, the play would have resulted in a touchdown.
Offense gets less than 300 yards – One of the Tigers major issues is the lack of an aerial attack. Uiagalelei was 18-of-25 through the air, but he only accumulated 126 yards. That is an average of just five yards an attempt and no completed pass went over 20 yards.
The long pass just is not a part of Clemson’s arsenal at this point, which is hard to get use to after the past three years of seeing former Tigers QB Trevor Lawrence dominate college football. Uiagalelei was serviceable last season while Lawrence was out due to COVID-19, but the differences between the two quarterbacks is a different as night and day.
There are other glaring differences as well. Travis Etienne is no longer at Clemson and the absence of Amari Rodgers as the tight end safety valve also stands out. WR Justyn Ross has returned this season after missing the entire 2020 season with a neck injury. Ross had a team high seven catches on Saturday, while no other Tiger player had more than two receptions on 25 yards.
The passing game is having a negative effect on the running game. Shipley looks like he is next in line to be a great Clemson running back and scored both of the Tigers touchdowns. He had 88 yards, but it took him 21 carries to get there. That is a far lower average than Etienne had during his Clemson career.
With a sub-par ACC schedule on the horizon, Clemson has a chance to find themselves on the offensive side of the football. If the Tigers want any chance of making a playoff run, the offense has to make drastic improvements.
Clemson defense stellar once again – Clemson has an outstanding defense, which may give the offense some time to improve. They have given up just 12 points in three games this season as the touchdown Georgia scored in Week 1 was off an interception. No other defense in the country can state that claim.
When the defense had their back against the wall, they were able to stop Georgia Tech in their tracks. Georgia Tech had the ball with 8:12 left in the game after Shipley scored his second touchdown. It took the Yellow Jackets 16 plays and 6:53 to go 70 yards and they were forced to settle for a field goal to cut the deficit to eight.
That is why it seemed very unlikely that the Yellow Jackets were going to get a touchdown when they recovered an onside kick with 1:19 remaining and had 3 timeouts. Georgia Tech was able to drive the ball down to the red zone, but once they got there, Clemson’s defense was suffocating and did not allow them to get the necessary touchdown.
