In its two biggest tests of the season, the Clemson offensive line has failed miserably.

After getting absolutely destroyed up front in the season-opener against LSU, the Tigers basically put on a repeat performance in the 41-13 loss to fourth-ranked Miami on Saturday night.

According to PFF, the Hurricanes had 34 pressures against freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds, who was sacked six times and spent most of the night running for his life.

During the most recent edition of the Gramlich and Mac Lain Podcast, former Clemson offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain gave a scathing review of the performance.

“This offensive line as a unit are just not good. They haven’t figured it out,” Mac Lain said. “Anytime they play somebody that is as talented or better, there’s real issues. With communication, with physically just getting dominated…It’s bad. It is beyond frustrating to watch. Because it’s the question of how and why you are here. How is this possible that it’s this bad at a lot of different spots?”

Back in the offseason, the decision was made not to add any portal help along the offensive line, a decision Mac Lain believes might have been a mistake. That has led to Clemson playing several freshmen and sophomores, and the results against the two ranked teams on the schedule have not been pretty.

“It goes to my similar sentiments of the first game, of do you know what you’re looking at? Do you understand what you have and what you don’t have and what’s out there?” Mac Lain said. “Did you try to add anything? Did you think, ‘Hey, we could really use some depth here,’ because we have four freshmen playing sporadically that are getting destroyed. And when you’re doing that and making that decision, everybody else is adding fifth- and sixth-years. Grown men that could and should be in the NFL. But instead they’re going against your 18-year-olds. It’s literally insane to go, ‘We’re good. We are fine with what we have here.'”

And Mac Lain’s criticism didn’t stop there. He then took direct aim at the coaching.

“And again, from a what are they being taught, like the amount of times that you all are about to see free rushers that are literally head-up over somebody — they are untouched. Are those your rules? Is that what you’re being taught? To not touch this guy? To let a defensive tackle go to the running back? Is that what you’re being coached? Because if it is, that’s an issue, and the fact that you don’t know is an issue because somebody is not coaching you well enough.”

“That’s the test. I don’t care how good your homework is. If you’re failing the test, you’re not graduating. It’s just a fact. That, to me, as you can tell — I’m trying to pull it back— is infuriating to me. Because there’s so much invested at that position, from coach and guys that are there. It’s not worth it. There’s no ROI at all. There’s no return on investment anywhere on that thing. It’s crazy at the end of the day.”

Photo courtesy of Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider