Snap judgments: Offense sloppy, defense dominant as Tigers top UConn

Clemson’s offense was hoping to build off of its performance last weekend at Louisville and play well against an overmatched UConn team on Saturday.

Instead, considering the opponent, Saturday might have been the worst offensive performance of the season for the Tigers.

DJ Uiagalelei completed less than 50 percent of his passes and the Tigers averaged only 3.1 yards per carry against a UConn team that entered the game 1-8 on the year. Clemson pulled away for a 44-7 victory, but it was far from a pretty performance by the offense.

“It was a great day. I’m proud of our team. That’s three in a row and five out of the past six. So we’re doing a lot of good things,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “We got a chance to play a lot of people today. We held some people, and we’ve got a lot of coaching to do off this tape, for sure.”

Clemson was 5-for-22 on third down and allowed six tackles for loss.

On a positive note, Clemson’s defense did what it was supposed to and completely dominated the Huskies offense. UConn only scored on a kickoff return to open the game and was held off the board for the next 59-plus minutes.

Still, the Tigers will have to play well on both sides of the ball next weekend against ACC Atlantic leader Wake Forest to come out on top.

“Our defense was tremendous. … Just a really, really good day defensively really from start to finish,” Swinney said. “Offensively we had 99 plays, almost 500 yards, but really the story of the day was missed plays. So many missed opportunities for just very easy plays. So that was a little disappointing, but we did a lot of good things.”

Here are some quick takeaways from Saturday’s win:

DJ Uiagalelei takes step back

Clemson’s sophomore quarterback was inaccurate and lacking confidence against UConn. He finished 21 of 44 passing for 241 yards with a touchdown and an interception. At one point he missed eight consecutive throws.

Uiagalelei clearly wasn’t 100 percent while playing with a sprained PCL. He couldn’t do much of anything in the running game and also seemed to have problems pushing off with his right leg while passing. He’ll need to be much better next week. Uiagalelei’s backup — Taisun Phommachanh — came in and did some good things before leaving the game in the first half with a shoulder injury.

“He just was very inaccurate the first quarter and a half there. Just very, very inaccurate. But it wasn’t that way in practice all week,” Swinney said. “He looked great. Just some missed plays. And there were a couple of plays that we needed to make for him. But just inaccurate early. But he battled through it. I loved how he finished the first half.”

Clemson defense takes care of business

The Tigers held UConn to 99 yards of offense and (-17) rushing yards. This was a huge mismatch on paper and it turned out to be just that on the field. Clemson completely controlled the line of scrimmage, finishing with nine tackles for loss. And the Tigers played their assignments well all afternoon. Myles Murphy led the way with 1.5 tackles for loss, while Sheridan Jones and Mario Goodrich each recorded interceptions.

UConn was 0-for-14 on third down and 0-for-4 on fourth down.

Injuries continue to pile up for Clemson

It was another Clemson game filled with injuries. Starters Xavier Thomas and Justyn Ross and backup quarterback Taisun Phommachanh all left the game and did not return. All three players were in street clothes on the sideline in the second half. Linebacker James Skalski also got banged up in the second half as the Tigers continue to have awful luck from an injury standpoint. Running back Will Shipley, right guard Will Putnam, safety Jalyn Phillips and cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. were held for the game.

The loss of Ross would be the biggest for the Tigers if he misses significant time.

“The injury bug continues to creep up on us,” Swinney said. “Ross was off to a great start. He had three really nice plays, and then he got hurt. Had some type of foot injury, so we’ll know where he is tomorrow.”