College Football World Reacts To State Of Clemson Football

The dynastic reign of dominance for the Clemson football program has hit a severe roadblock in 2021 — in large part due to struggles on the offensive side of the ball.

With the exception of a 49-3 blowout win over South Carolina in Week 2, the Tigers have been held to less than 20 points in each of their other five contests.

In Week 1, Dabo Swinney’s once-great offense was completely shut down by the Georgia Bulldog’s stifling defense — scoring just one field goal in a 10-3 loss. And while it’s understandable to get locked up by the best defensive unit in America, the Tigers have continued to struggle against lesser ACC competition.

The team’s offensive difficulties really started to become apparent in a 14-8 Week 3 win over Georgia Tech that saw preseason Heisman hopeful D.J. Uiagalelei struggle to move the ball down the field. And since Week 4’s 27-21 double-overtime loss to NC State, Clemson has squeaked out less-than-touchdown wins over Boston College (19-13) and Syracuse (17-14).

This is the first time since 2004 that Clemson has scored less than 25 points in four straight games.

After last night’s closely-contested win over the Orange, fans from around the college football world took to Twitter to react to the Tigers’ uncharacteristic season.

After dominating the league over the past few seasons, Clemson currently ranks last in the ACC in both points and yards per game. Despite that fact, offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said he believed his unit was in for a “breakout” performance in last night’s game.

Failing to accomplish that goal, Elliott addressed his team’s offensive struggles after the game.

“I knew there would be some challenges, but I thought the guys progressed well throughout the course of the week,” Elliott said, per Sports Illustrated. “I think they were confident that this would be the game where we would break out.

“But we’re still continuing to shoot ourselves in the foot. Costly penalty here, costly missed blocked there, miscommunication, we were starting to get drives and then get out of rhythm.”

Next weekend, Clemson will look to keep up with the Pitt Panthers’ elite offensive unit that’s scored more than 40 points in each of its four wins (and one loss) this season.

“It’s back to the drawing board,” Elliott said. “One thing is that the guys still have the will to win. They’re working their butts off. At some point we’re very optimistic that it will turn, we just don’t know when it is.”

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