Clemson fans are waking up this morning facing the reality that Trevor Lawrence will not be on the field today against Boston College. Step away from the ledge. We are about to see why Dabo Swinney is the highest paid coach in college football. We are about to see why the coaching staff gets paid what it does, and we are about to see Tony Elliott gameplan for someone other than a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Imagine Alabama losing Mac Jones, or Ohio State losing Fields or Notre Dame losing Book or South Carolina losing Hills. Ok, the last one doesn’t really matter, but the others? At Clemson, it’s called Next Man Up. This is the moment Chase Brice stepped up (Syracuse). Now it’s DJ Uiagalelei time. 2020 has been a challenging year for everyone in every facet of life. Now, the challenge has come to Clemson football.
Boston College fans are chomping at the bit for tomorrows’ game. With Lawrence out, and a few defensive players, they are smelling upset. James Skalski will miss the game, as will possibly Tyler Davis and maybe Mike Jones, Jr. Clemson preaches “we too deep” and depth depth depth. Tomorrow, it will be on full display.
DJ Uiagalelei will have one day of practice with the ones. Coach Elliott probably spent all night gameplanning around someone other than TL. What will we see? Gameplanning is one thing. The resolve of the rest of the offense will take a step forward. The offensive line will block a little harder. The running backs will have to step up their game, and the receivers will need to work harder on separation. Replacing Trevor Lawrence will be a total team effort. No one knows this better than Dabo and his staff.
The defense played without Skalski and Davis last week, and will do the same this week. DC Brent Venables is the best in the business. It will be fun watching what he comes up with against Boston College.
The key will be how Elliott chooses to run the offense. We all know DJ has a cannon. We also know he is a big, strong runner. DJ comes in one of the most heralded quarterbacks to come out of high school. Time to take the reins, big man, and show college football what you can do.
Clemson still wins but don’t expect them to cover the spread. We can look forward to more of a “grinding offense” and more of a game-control gameplan. This game will probably be the most watched game in the country to see how Clemson does without their starting quarterback, sort of like a preview of what next year is going to look like. Trevor Lawrence will be back, possibly for the Notre Dame game, but for one week, it’s the DJ Uiagalelei show.
Clemson wins 34-20. It might not look pretty, and the tigers will probably fall from the top spot for a week until Lawrence comes back, but the old saying is “When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.” Tune in tomorrow.
