Clemson Receives Bad News For Their Already Struggling Offense Before Saturday's Pitt Game

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According to Larry Williams from TigerIllustrated.com, top Clemson receiver Joseph Ngata will be out on Saturday due to Covid.  The team got word this morning that Ngata had tested positive for the virus and he will miss the game this weekend against the Pitt Panthers.  We, of course, send our well wishes to Ngata as he fights Covid and hope he comes out of it with a clean bill of health soon.

In a game where my biggest concern was that Clemson finally figures out a game plan to feature their very talented skill players, this is huge news for the Panthers.  Ngata has surpassed Justyn Ross as the leader in receiving yards for the Tigers, though Ross has ten more receptions.  Ngata is the biggest threat for the deep ball Clemson has and the Panthers have shown they are vulnerable to such plays.  With Ngata out on Saturday, an already sputtering offense should be even weaker.

Ngata is a former 5-star recruit out of Folsom, California and is having his best season, by far, to this point in 2021.  He still has yet to score a touchdown, but has connected on 44 and 54-yard receptions so far this season.

The Clemson offense has been terrible this season.  The Tigers are scoring just 20.5 points per game ranking them 177th among all of the FBS.  Their passing game is especially bad, only averaging 180.3 yards per game, ranking it 174th in the country.  The loss of Ngata should allow the Panthers to focus more on the run which has proved very successful for Pitt so far this season when able to do so.  Pitt will still need to score points of their own against a very elite Clemson defense, but one less skill player for the Panther defense to worry about is very welcome news.