Measuring stick: UVA has ways to go vs. explosive Clemson

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Tony Elliott returned to Death Valley for the first time since being part of Clemson’s decade of dynasty in the ACC. Elliott, the Tigers’ former offensive coordinator, brought his Virginia football team back to his old stomping grounds to measure where his new program stacked up against his old one.

Saturday’s 48-31 loss was a painful reminder of how far Virginia has to go.

The Cavaliers gave the 10th-ranked Tigers all they could handle early on, jumping out to a 10-3 lead, stunning the 80,000 fans on hand expecting a rout. They didn’t have to wait too long for things to turn, as 21-point favorite Clemson (6-1, 5-0 ACC) reeled off 35 unanswered points.

Trailing 17-10 at halftime, Virginia (4-3, 2-2 ACC) came out of the locker room seemingly on empty yet again. The third quarter has been a trending problem for UVA most of the season, having been outscored by a combined 82-23. Before they could blink, the Cavaliers trailed 38-10 to a Clemson team that not only has its eyes focused on another ACC championship, but returning to the now-expanded College Football Playoffs.

“I knew this was going to be one of those type of games where we get to truly evaluate where we are as a program,” Elliott said after the game. “Today we got to see that, and we’ll own it. We don’t have much time to sit here and feel sorry for ourselves … we’ve got a good North Carolina team that’s coming off a bye week coming into our house.”

Virginia couldn’t mount an effective run game against a fast and physical Clemson defense, and quarterback Anthony Colandrea, who was under duress much of the afternoon (4 sacks, minus-44 yards) was mostly ineffective in throwing the ball downfield. He was relegated to nickel-and-diming the Tigers.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers’ defensive game plan was to keep everything in front of them and prohibit or limit Clemson’s explosive plays, a plan that went sideways during a lopsided third quarter.

“Too many open [receivers] running around, and that tells me that’s just communication,” Elliott said.

The Tigers, who finished with 539 total yards and scored more than 40 points for the fourth time in seven games, exploited UVA’s secondary in the second half, particularly in the third quarter when quarterback Cade Klubnik connected for three huge gains:

• 23-yard pass to Antonio Williams that led to a 24-10 lead
• 36-yard jet sweep to Williams to make it 31-10
• 40-yard pass to an uncovered Olsen Patt-Henry and a 38-10 lead

“As you watch them throughout the course of the season, they were generating a lot of explosives and they were able to just overwhelm people through the explosie play,” Elliott said. “So that was a point of emphasis, not let them get behind us, see if we could fit the run game, make them put together long drives. That was the plan, but unfortunately we weren’t able to execute the plan today.”

Virginia managed only 346 yards, a mere 68 of that from its running attack. Meanwhile, Clemson rushed for 194 and passed for 308.

Elliott and his staff had no answer for the Tigers’ domination of the third quarter. The Virginia coach knew the potential danger his defense was in if Clemson got on a roll. He had been on the opposite sideline enjoying an explosion of points in years past, and had witnessed the helplessness of opponents.

“I kind of know the formula,” Elliott said. “That’s generally what happens. It’s a few plays or a few mistakes by the opponent, then [Clemson’s offense] capitalizes and before you know it, they’ve jumped on you and you’re like, ‘Whoa, what just happened?’”

Elliott said that’s what happened in the third quarter — Clemson made the plays and Virginia made some mistakes, and it was basically over.

“Before you know it, you’re chasing a couple of scores versus a team at home is very difficult,” Elliott said.

Colandrea, who didn’t throw an interception for the fourth straight game, did have a moment on the first play of the fourth quarter when he hit Malachi Fields for a 44-yard touchdown, one of Virginia’s only explosive plays of the day. Clemson answered with a field goal and shortly after, Colandrea’s day was done. Elliott substituted backup Tony Muskett for mop-up duty and he responded with a pair of touchdown passes, way too little, way too late.

Slow out of the gate, Clemson eventually lived up to its top-10 billing.

“That was awesome,” Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said. “Really proud of our team. Virginia is a tough team. Tony’s got them going in the right direction … I knew it would be a tight game early, but proud of our guys and how they weathered the storm.”

Elliott, who played and coached for Swinney, said he knew his old boss wouldn’t take it easy on him or his team, and he was correct in that assumption. The Tigers still had their first offensive unit in for the final two minutes and passed for the final touchdown with 1:54 to play.

Virginia did open well, but couldn’t keep the pace.

“I think that’s where we’re going to learn to get better, especially in an environment like this,” Elliott said. “You’ve got to learn to play with the lead. I’m proud that we were able to come in and get off to a good start and take a lead, but also an opportunity for us to grow.”