Tony Elliott responds to RGIII calling Clemson offense 'archaic'

Tony Elliott and the Clemson offense have been fighting back criticism since the start of the season, and this week they faced it from former Heisman winning quarterback Robert Griffin III. Griffin called out Clemson’s play-calling saying that it was archaic. In Monday’s press conference, Elliott responded to those remarks.

Elliott sees it as an execution issue

“It’s the same plays they run in North Carolina. It’s the same plays they run all around the country. We’re just not having success. We’re not executing at a high level. There’s going to be critics. It comes with the territory. We just gotta do a better job of executing the plays. You execute the plays you have success you score points; then it’s not questioned as much,” Elliott said in response.

Football is a copycat sport. Most of the plays are recycled old plays and formations. So, it is likely that different teams will run the same plays. The difference is how they’re being dressed up. Coordinators like to add their own twists on plays with motions and personal changes. But in the end, it comes down to execution and skill. It doesn’t matter how nicely drawn up a play is, if a team can’t execute them properly.

Earlier in the press conference, Elliott addressed his offense’s lack of execution.

“The biggest thing is we’re just out of sync right now and it’s ten guys and one guy not doing the right thing. Or, it’s nine and you got two guys not doing the right thing.”

Clemson’s offensive transformation

The Clemson offense had just ten first downs in the entire game. They converted just two of 11 on third downs for a success rate of 18 percent. And failed to complete their only fourth-down attempt. What really hurt was the offense’s inability to stay on the field. They lost the time of possession battle 18 minutes to 42. That resulted in another wide gap in the total plays ran by both teams. Clemson ran 49 offense plays, while NC State nearly doubled that with 96.

Clemson knew its offense was going to look significantly different with Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne off to the NFL. But so far, this start has been more than they bargained. Uiagalelei has not looked like the same quarterback he was against Notre Dame and Boston College a year ago. 

Because of the offensive struggles, the Tiger’s defense has been under a mountain of pressure. They did not allow a touchdown until Saturday, but they made costly mistakes down the stretch. A penalty gave NC State a second chance in the first overtime, and the Wolfpack soon scored. 

Overall, Clemson has looked nothing like they have looked in the past. Whether that is a lack of execution on the behalf of the player or a lack of creativity from the play-caller, or a good mix of both something has to change fast if the Tigers want to salvage this season.