With Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott facing much criticism and under fire by many fans and media members alike amidst the Tigers’ struggles on offense, Kirk Herbstreit came to Elliott’s defense during the latest edition of The ESPN College Football Podcast.

“I’ve heard people question Tony Elliott or the scheme,” Herbstreit said. “Give me a break. Are you kidding me? Everybody’s bragging about Tony Elliott and that scheme for years, and all of the sudden, three weeks, it’s not looking good (and people say), ‘What, Tony Elliott, that scheme’s a high school scheme.’ It’s like, shut up. What are you talking about?”

Through four games, Clemson ranks last in the ACC in points per game (21.8) and total yards per game (295.5).

While Herbstreit acknowledges Clemson has a variety of problems on the offensive side of the ball, he doesn’t think its scheme is one of those and rather points to personnel as the Tigers’ biggest issue, particularly the offensive line.

“To me, the offensive line last year wasn’t great,” Herbstreit said. “The offensive line this year is not great. Now you put yourself, without a running quarterback, in a real bind when you can’t run the ball. That’s kind of where they are.”

Herbstreit also believes the game has yet to slow down for quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei to this point in his young career.

“It feels like, with DJ, the game is moving really fast,” Herbstreit said. “Sometimes we say about (a veteran quarterback), ‘The game looks like it’s moving slow. He’s played 30 games. It’s like he has the answers to every question.’ And then you’ve got a young quarterback that has got a lot of physical ability, and he looks indecisive, he looks hesitant every time he’s back there throwing. Unless the primary is open and he can put his foot in the ground and throw, you take his primary away, he starts going into panic mode.

“So, you combine a young quarterback that’s still trying to see it with an offensive line and running game that isn’t there, and they’re back at the drawing board right now. It’s bigger than just these first few weeks.”

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