By Will Vandervort.
Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris said North Carolina came into Saturday’s game intent on not allowing the Tigers to run the football. He said that clouded some of the issues they had running the ball last Saturday, but that’s not the only problem they had.
Clemson, who will play N.C. State this Saturday in Death Valley, rushed for 92 yards in its 50-35 victory over the Tar Heels and averaged just 2.2 yards per carry. The Tigers are averaging just 137.3 yards per game and rank 88th nationally on the ground.
“They did a few things that might have offset it and made things a little more cloudy than it was, but still we were not nearly as effective in the run game as we need to be,” Morris said. “We have to continue to work to get better.”
That improvement can start in numerous areas. The tight end position has not been good at all from a run blocking standpoint. With the exception of Jay Jay McCullough, the tight ends overall have not been consistent at the point of attack. However, McCullough took a small step back against the Tar Heels.
“Jay Jay McCullough has been the most physical of all the tight ends, but he did not have his best ballgame,” Morris said. “He did not play that bad, but he did not play on par to where he was the first three weeks so we have to get him back. We have to get him going, again and we will.”
The other issue is on the offensive line. Clemson is having problems getting a push up field at times. Morris attributes the overall lack of depth up front as part of the problem. He says right now the Tigers are playing as many as eight guys on the offensive line and are mixing and matching in as many situations they can as they try to find the right combination.
“We have to be able to knock some people off the ball a little bit and create some movement,” Morris said. “Our backs are going to have to be able to find some holes. There were a little bit more there at times and we did not find it.”
Luckily for Clemson, the Tigers (2-2, 1-1 ACC) have been able throw the football to make up for their inadequacies in the running game. Clemson leads the ACC and ranks ninth nationally in throwing the football at 353 yards per game. Against North Carolina, freshman quarterback Deshaun Watson threw for 435 yards on 27 of 36 passing, including a school-record six touchdown passes.
And though that is all good, Morris says there will come a time when Clemson is going to need to run the football in order to win this year.
“We have to run the football more and we have to be more effective running the football, but we have to be smart with it as well,” Morris said. “If they are going to lineup and stack the box then we have to take advantage of that, too. I felt like we did that a little bit Saturday night.”
One way to try and help the running game is to use Watson in the zone-read. Morris says he does not want to run Watson on every play but he knows the freshman, who was considered the No. 1 duel threat quarterback coming out of high school, can help loosen defenses up a little bit.
Clemson ran a lot of zone read against the Tar Heels but some of it was on gives to the running back and they mixed it up with its wide receivers.
“I feel very comfortable running the zone read with (Watson). I think he is very comfortable with it, but I think you just have to be very smart with it,” Morris said. “But our backs have to get involved with this thing so that is what we have to do and we have to be able to create some movement up front to get those backs involved.
“It is all about space. When you start talking about zone read you talk about spreading people out and eliminating as many guys in the box as you possibly can and let your quarterback account for the extra defender.”