One main reason for Clemson’s struggles in Monday’s CFP National Championship loss to LSU was the Tigers’ inability to convert on third down.

Clemson was just 1-11 on third down in the national championship game, a conversion rate of 0.09 percent. It was the worst mark ever by a Clemson team in the Dabo Swinney era.

It was also in stark contrast from what the Tigers did during the season. They came into the championship game converting on 46 percent of their third downs, one of the best figures in the country at the time.

“I want to watch the tape before I can really assess and tell you, but from my vantage point, we missed on a couple of throws. We did not convert the catches,” Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said. “They did a good job of mixing things up.

“They typically had either been a man or zone team. They were playing some zone in man concepts where you had to go through progressions and when you go through the progressions you just don’t have time with all of those twists that they do with their defensive front.”

As Elliott alluded to, some of Clemson’s struggles on third down came from quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who had arguably his worst game in a Clemson uniform. He struggled with his accuracy, completing just 18 of 37 passes in the first loss of his Clemson career.

On third down he was even worse, missing high on seven throws. In the first 29 games of his college career, Lawrence threw high on just six passes combined.

“It’s hard to pinpoint,” Elliott said. “You’re playing against a good defense, too. Now you have to make some throws into tight coverage and obviously, the protection was not great at times, and when it was, he kind of flushed a couple of times and he had to make something on the run.

“But Trevor, that’s our guy. I would not trade Trevor for anybody in the country,” Elliott said. “He is an unbelievable competitor. He is an unbelievable young man. He is the leader of our football team. Tonight, collectively, we were not at our best when we needed to be.”

Clemson finished the game with 394 total yards, the second lowest output of the season for the Tigers’ offense in 2019.

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