Kirk Herbstreit to Tony Elliott haters: "Shut up"

Herbstreit doesn't believe that Elliott forgot how to call plays (Brad Mills - USA Today Sports)

by Tony Crumpton - Assoc. Editor - Tue Sep 28 13:49:08 GMT-04:00 2021

The Clemson offense has not looked like itself through four games this season as the team has had an ACC-worst 295.5 yards a game of total offense.

That is rough for a team that consistently dominated with a balanced attack with playmakers making explosive plays during the Swinney regime.

A lot of the criticism directed towards Clemson from national media pundits including ESPN has been on the playcalling from offensive coordinator Tony Elliott.

However, ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit isn't ready to throw Elliott under the bus.

"I've heard people question Tony Elliott or the scheme," Herbstreit said during Monday's ESPN College Football Podcast. "Give me a break. Are you kidding me? Everybody is bragging about Tony Elliott and that scheme for years, and all of a sudden, three weeks it's not looking good, and they say, 'Well, Tony Elliott, that's a high school scheme.' It's like, shut up. What are you talking about?"

"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."

Herbstreit believes that the game is going pretty fast for 'DJU' during this early portion of the season.

"That's kind of where they are and it feels like, with DJ, the game is moving really fast," he 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.' Then you've got a young quarterback who has the physical ability, and he looks indecisive. He's looked 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."