Kirk Herbstreit on what’s wrong with Clemson and how he’d fix Trevor Lawrence

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit explains what’s wrong with Clemson’s offense and how he’d get Trevor Lawrence and the team back on track.

Clemson got the win at North Carolina but lost on Sunday afternoon when the Tigers dropped out of the No. 1 spot in the AP Poll and now sit at No. 2. Sophomore quarterback Trevor Lawrence began the season as the Heisman front-runner and many are already looking toward his NFL future. A funny thing happened along the way as Lawrence is showing signs of struggle for the first time in his college career and already has more interceptions (five) than he had his entire freshman season (four).

Nevertheless, the reigning national champions are undefeated and control their destiny to get back to the College Football Playoff and a chance to repeat.

But something is off with Clemson’s offense. This was supposed to be a unit that was among the best in the nation but things are off through the first five weeks. ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit has an idea why he thinks Lawrence and the Clemson offense is struggling and how they can get right.

“Clemson is feeling the pressure of the weight of being the defending national champ,” Herbstreit told me while promoting Goodyear’s Headed to the Hall sweepstakes. “We’ve seen Clemson as a defending champ in the past and not quite have the same intensity and come up short. We’ve seen Alabama be that team that loses the killer instinct. Now we’re seeing that with Clemson five weeks into the season.”

The weight of expectations has crushed many preseason favorites but it hasn’t affected the Clemson defense that had to replace three first-round picks on the defensive line. They’ve reloaded on the fly and Herbstreit thinks they are doing what they need to do to repeat.

"“Defensively, they’re playing championship-caliber football, but I think on offense, while they have all these pieces, and it’s a matter of time until they hit on all cylinders, but right now, they aren’t doing as good of a job at the line of scrimmage.”"

The Clemson offensive line has been much-maligned through five weeks and running back Travis Etienne, a Heisman candidate in his own right, hasn’t been as much of a factor as he should be. Herbstreit thinks he needs to be the focal point of the offense so the offense stops forcing the issue with Lawrence looking for a big play.

"“Travis Etienne needs to be a bigger part of this offense. I think they’re looking for too many big plays and forcing the issue with Trevor and a very talented group of receivers. I wouldn’t be surprised to see co-offensive coordinators Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott get back to running the ball, being better at the line of scrimmage and when they do that, the rest of the passing game will work itself out.”"

Clemson fans will remember when Deshaun Watson and the Tigers were upset by Pitt in 2017 but that served as a wake-up call before they got things right and ended up winning the national championship.

"“But remember, there was a time with Deshaun Watson in his last year, that was very similar when the offense was not quite clicking, but they found their way after a loss to Pitt and won the national title. Let’s be cautious about Clemson, but I think, eventually, they are going to find their answers.”"

Will history repeat itself this year for Clemson?

Clemson is off this weekend before hosting Florida State in two weeks. If Etienne is a major part of the game plan, it’ll be an encouraging sign for Tigers fans that the team they expected to see all year is finally showing up.

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