Why Clemson is struggling, and why the Tigers shouldn’t panic

It was well past midnight on Oct. 3, but Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei was still out on the field at Memorial Stadium, throwing footballs with one of the team’s equipment managers. A few minutes before, his coach, Dabo Swinney, praised the team’s effort in a 19-13 win over Boston College. It was another spotty offensive performance, but one in which the Tigers managed 438 yards — nearly double their season average against FBS foes.

Still, Uiagalelei was frustrated. He had missed some easy throws — six of them, he would later recount — and he hoped a few more late-night reps would fix whatever is broken in the most confounding offense in college football.

“I just wanted to get it out of my system,” Uiagalelei said this week.

Clemson, too, would love to wipe the slate clean after a dismal offensive start to the season.

Uiagalelei has been off target on nearly 15% of his throws, according to ESPN Stats & Information, and the 3-2 Tigers rank among the worst teams in the country in scoring rate, yards-per-play and three-and-outs. While the Tigers’ defense is among the best in the nation — one of just five teams allowing less than one point per drive so far — the offense has mired Clemson in its worst start since 2014.

Still, Uiagalelei’s late-night routine after beating Boston College was indicative of Clemson’s plan to fix things by homing in on the little things — bad footwork, lazy routes, blocks that needed to be held just a second or two longer. (Offensive coordinator Tony Elliott calls them “missed layups.”) The belief internally is that Clemson is close. In the blink of an eye, insiders belive, this will once again look like a championship offense, perhaps starting with Friday’s game at 3-3 Syracuse (7 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN…