Elliott: Clemson looks similar to past teams during glory stretch

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Tony Elliott was right in the middle of Clemson’s dynamic 10-year run during which the Tigers won 10 or more games each year, captured six ACC championships, made four College Football Playoff appearances and claimed two national championships in 2016 and 2018.

This week, he returns to Clemson for the first time, wearing a different shade of orange as head coach of a 4-2 Virginia team (Saturday, noon, ACC Network). Elliott was the Tigers’ offensive coordinator and called the plays during that ACC dynasty.

UVA is a 21-point underdog to 5-1 Clemson, which has scored 40 or more points four times this season and has held its last three opponents to 14 points or less.

After looking at the Tigers on film the last several days, what does Elliott think of this year’s Clemson team? Does it look like the Clemson teams he was part of for more than a decade?

“I think when you watch them from the offensive perspective, man, you see they’re very balanced,” Elliott said Tuesday. “They’ve got dynamic players at all positions. They’ve got a dynamic tight end in (Jake) Briningstool. They’ve got a big, bruising running back in Phil Mafah and then their skill guys can run. Very similar to where we were.

“It looks like up front, they’re playing well together. And then defensively, they look very similar to the teams of the past, with them big old bodies inside. And they’ve got two, well actually, they’ve got six defensive linemen because they roll them [out] every other series.

“They’ve got a whole new set of D-linemen coming in there, so very similar, and also fast on the back end. And then their linebackers are very similar to the ones we had, so I think where they’re playing now, right? They look very similar to the teams of the past.”