Clemson’s passing game keeps living in the shallow end.
The Tigers beat Charleston Southern on Saturday, but the box score did little to calm the bigger concern hanging over the offense: this passing attack is built on throws that barely leave the line of scrimmage. Freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds attempted 26 passes, and 21 of them went to a target within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. That kind of distribution leaves defenses with no real reason to panic.
That has been the story for most of the season. Clemson has only two touchdown passes through six games, and the open date didn’t seem to unlock anything new. Chad Morris has talked like a coordinator ready to attack downfield, but the Tigers still keep drifting sideways.
The numbers from Pro Football Focus paint the same picture. Reynolds has completed just two of 21 throws that traveled at least 20 yards downfield for 47 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
That’s a 9.5% completion rate and 2.2 yards per attempt. He has as many interceptions as completions on those throws.
PFF also says the deep problems aren’t confined to one area of the field. Reynolds is 0 for 4 throwing deep left, 1 for 7 through the middle and 1 for 10 to the right. And the receivers haven’t been charged with any drops on those attempts.
The middle of the field hasn’t offered much relief either. During the second quarter Saturday, one fan below the coaches’ box shouted, “Hey Chad!
It’s legal to throw between the numbers!” The line drew laughs, but it also summed up the frustration in the stands after another screen.
That short game has piled up completions without creating much damage. Reynolds is 48 of 54 on throws between zero and 9 yards downfield for 445 yards.
Behind the line of scrimmage, he has completed 36 of 44 for 140 yards. Those two zones account for 84 of his 101 completions and 585 of his 942 passing yards in the PFF breakdown.
Screens have been especially heavy, and especially ordinary. Reynolds is 33 of 43 on screens for 134 yards, a 3.1-yard average with no touchdowns.
There is at least one area where Clemson has shown some punch. Reynolds has been efficient on intermediate throws, going 15 of 23 for 310 yards on passes traveling 10 to 19 yards downfield.
He’s completed 65.2% of those attempts, averaged 13.5 yards per throw and earned an 86.5 PFF passing grade in that category. Every one of those 15 completions moved the chains.
But Clemson has not leaned on that range nearly enough. Reynolds has only 23 attempts in that window, compared with 98 combined attempts behind the line of scrimmage or on throws shorter than 10 yards.
The Tigers did finish with 207 passing yards Saturday, and three plays went for 20 yards or more - one for 32 and two for 23. Still, a short completion turning into a big gain does not tell the same story as an offense consistently threatening a defense vertically.
Pressure has been part of the problem too. PFF tracked Reynolds under pressure on 72 of 196 dropbacks, or 36.7%.
On those snaps, he completed 18 of 41 passes for 219 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. His completion rate dropped to 43.9%, and his passing grade slipped to 30.9.
With a clean pocket, the numbers improve, but not by a huge margin. Reynolds completed 70.9% of those passes and averaged 6.2 yards per attempt, with one touchdown and one interception.
That leaves Clemson with an offense that can complete passes but too often fails to stretch anybody. Virginia Tech should see the film and know exactly how to attack it: crowd the box, take away the run and force Clemson to win outside and downfield.
Right now, the Tigers haven’t given anyone much reason to believe they can.
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