By Ed McGranahan.

A veritable gunfight broke out when N.C. State visited two years ago, a 62-48 Clemson win in which the teams combined for 1,351 yards, and the possibility of another Saturday afternoon in Death Valley creates an uneasy feeling for Dabo Swinney.

Clemson continues to be a work in progress, offensively with a new quarterback and a largely veteran defense that hasn’t played a complete game, and offensive line which has faced “baptism by fire,” by Swinney’s estimation.

“We are a work in progress,” he said. “After four games we are battle tested.”

Chad Morris was asked this week if he had five linemen he could trust.

“No,” he said. “We’ve got five guys but we’ve got guys moving all over the field. We played eight, seven the week before. We’ve got guys playing three positions. That’s an area where we’re thin from a numbers standpoint.”

Much of Morris’ frustration stems from a statistically pedestrian run game. Clemson was 12th in the ACC this week averaging 131 yards per game, 113th in the nation at 3.1 per carry.

“I was real disappointed we were unable to run the football,” he said of the game with North Carolina.  “We want to be able to line up, knock you off the ball and get three yards or four yards, to run with that type of passion and aggression.”

Part of the issue with that game in particular was North Carolina’s choice to sell out and stop the run to test Watson’s inexperience. While Clemson may see it again, Watson submitted evidence it mightn’t be wise.

But there have been personnel problems going back to last season when Clemson lost Patrick DeStefano and Giff Timothy to career ending injuries. In preseason, tackle Shaq Anthony was dismissed from the team.

Counted on to replace Timothy at right tackle, Joe Gore started the first three games but lost the job to senior Kalon Davis, who started three at right guard. Senior David Beasley missed the Georgia game due to a suspension. And center became fluid with Jay Guillermo replacing Ryan Norton in the S.C. State game, then Norton struggled with snaps against Florida State.  Highlighting the issues was the emergence of little used senior Reid Webster who has started all four games and played three positions.

Plus neither coach has been pleased with their tight ends. Losing senior Sam Cooper before the Georgia game created a huge hole in blocking schemes and leadership. Morris said they had been “disappointing” in general, though he has been pleased with Jay Jay McCullough’s progress this season.  Swinney said their performance against UNC was “our worst
game at tight end from the point of attack.”

Keep in mind Clemson ranks 29th nationally in total offense (490.2) and 26th in scoring (40.2), which obviously speaks to its proficient passing game. Watson ranks second nationally to Marcus Mariota of Oregon in efficiency and first in yards per pass.

Morris admitted he was reasonably pleased with pass protection despite the 10 sacks. Swinney insisted there’s been “a lot of positive.”

“Very few teams are where we are after four games. Are we where we need to be? No, but we are improving,” Swinney said. “There’s a lot of good. Most people just want to focus on the bad.”