Elliott says every job is open, as learning curve continues to show on offense

Uiagalelei has one of a number of jobs under "evaluation" at this point.

by Zachary Wagner - Correspondent - Sun Oct 24 11:16:03 GMT-04:00 2021

It was not the day the Clemson offense had hoped for on Saturday against Pitt, falling flat in the second half and dropping the third game of the season, 27-17. The offensive attack was balanced with 151 pass yards and 164 rushing yards, but the Tigers were unable to sustain a timely drive to cut into the Pitt lead late in the ballgame.

Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott wants his guys to come back to work on Monday and try to get the ship righted for next week in Death Valley against Florida State.

“We just have to go back to work every single day,” Elliott said to the media after the loss. “Obviously we have to point out if there are any glaring fundamental issues, and at the same time coach them hard and challenge them to build their confidence. That’s the most frustrating thing, the guys are putting together good practices, something is just getting lost in the transition to the game.”

“We have to own it, and everybody has to look at themselves in the mirror,” Elliott said. “Myself included, coaches included and see what we can do better when we come back on Monday. We have to keep challenging, keep pushing, and keep demanding these guys pay attention to the little things. The older guys understand what it takes, they’ve been through their trials and have gone through their learning curve, and some of these guys are going through their learning curve and it’s showing up on Saturdays when we want it the least.”

After quarterback DJ Uiagalelei threw his second interception of the game early in the third quarter, the coaching staff decided to change signal callers and give Taisun Phommachanh a chance behind center.

“We were just looking for a spark, to change it up a little bit,” Elliott said of the QB change. “You’ve seen over the course of the last couple games, we’ve been trying out a package with Taisun and getting him in the game. We knew he gave us a different element running the ball and he did a really good job once he got in there. He made some good decisions and made some nice plays in the run game and with his legs. It was more of a decision to just try and get a spark and get us going. Late in the game when we knew we were going to have to throw it down the field, we knew DJ gave us the best chance.”

Elliott said it’s still too early to tell if there will be a quarterback battle at practice in the upcoming game prep week, but open competition makes everyone better.

“It’s nothing major and we’ll evaluate everything in the program once we get back to campus,” said Elliott. “I still think it’s too early to say that and we’ll evaluate everything moving forward. I think right now with how we’ve played offensively, every job is open to being evaluated. Every position needs to do stuff better to give us a chance to win. We need to catch the ball and quarterbacks need to make some better throws.”

Elliott doesn’t want his players and team to lose faith in what the Tigers have built over the years though. While an seventh consecutive ACC Championship looks out of the picture now, Elliott wants everyone to keep the faith.

“We have to keep working and not lose hope and faith,” Elliott said. “The kids have to show up on Monday with the right attitude and let's figure out how to make ourselves better and put ourselves in a better position to win some football games.”

While one play didn’t lose the game, Will Shipley dropping what would have been a house-call down the field from Uiagalelei in the second quarter really took the wind out of the sails on the Clemson offense. Elliott said that there were a lot of little things over the course of the game that built up.

“I didn’t see it like that,” Elliott said. “I think you had a combination of that, and when Bockhorst went out, there were a few more plays where we weren’t necessarily in sync. I wouldn’t say it was just Shipley’s drop, but a combination of things. There’s certainly plays that deflate the offense like Ships, but there's also plays like (Justyn Ross') touchdown grab that ignites the offense and we aren’t getting enough of those ignitors right now.”