Clemson football: Does Dabo Swinney need to fire Tony Elliott to fix Tigers offense?

Clemson football isn’t used to struggling like this on offense and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott could soon find himself out of a job as a result.

It’s been a forgettable year for Clemson football and their fans. The Tigers aren’t going to make the College Football Playoff after suffering two losses in September and winning the ACC may not be a certainty either.

The offense is broken and having their open week last week didn’t appear to do any wonders with only 17 points scored against Syracuse on Friday night.

Quarterback D.J. Uiagalalei hasn’t looked anything like the quarterback that excelled in two starts last year with Trevor Lawrence out with COVID. The former five-star recruit who entered the year with Heisman aspirations has struggled mightily behind one of the worst offensive lines in the Power Five and a non-existent running game that’s down to third-stringer Kobe Pace.

The biggest reason the Clemson offense has been among the worst units this year is offensive coordinator Tony Elliott and the play-calling.

Will Dabo Swinney fire Tony Elliott?

Elliott is a former Broyles Award winner and has been at Clemson since 2011, but his time may be coming to an end if the offense doesn’t turn it around in the second half of the season.

Considering the personnel isn’t going to change, Elliott’s ability to magically transform the unit that was scoring like Kansas and Rutgers teams of the past, Elliott may be out of a job.

With Jeff Scott leaving for the USF head coaching job, the spotlight has been on Elliott to handle the job by himself. He’s failed thus far. Firing Elliott during the season may not be likely, but expect changes to be made to Swinney’s offensive coaching staff.

A new offensive line coach and a new offensive coordinator may be among the changes coming to the Clemson coaching staff. Continuity has been a strong suit of Swinney’s teams, for the most part, especially with Brent Venables turning down head coach opportunities to remain the defensive coordinator. However, Elliott’s loyalty isn’t going to save him. The only thing that’s going to save his job is if Uiagalelei starts looking like the player he can be and Clemon starts scoring more than 20 points per game.

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