Could Clemson's struggles make the Tigers interested in Elliott?

Distractions come in lots of forms, and coaches detest them all — especially when they threaten a team's long-awaited success.

With Virginia football finally on an upward trajectory, Tony Elliott clearly doesn't want his veteran team's focus to wander from the task at hand. That means Norfolk State is front and center, even if the Cavaliers are favored by six touchdowns in Friday night's meeting.

Through no fault of his own, though, Elliott could become a tangential topic this fall, especially if the first two weeks of the season are any indication.

Any successful coach automatically becomes a candidate for openings at higher-profile schools. And as some beat writers posited, if Elliott keeps building on last year's 11-win campaign, he might become very attractive for a possible dream job that suddenly might come open.

The folks at Elliott's alma mater, Clemson, aren't too high on coach Dabo Swinney after Saturday night's 51-10 drubbing at LSU, which could have been even worse. The hosts enjoyed a 644-145 edge in total yards, a 38-8 advantage in first downs and allowed just one third-down conversion in 13 attempts, handing Swinney his most lopsided career loss.

The game also featured the early quote of the year, by LSU coach Lane Kiffin, who tried unsuccessfully to bring back players cut by NFL teams. Speaking to a sideline reporter at halftime, Kiffin quipped: "Imagine if we had pro players."

That joke's not funny at Clemson, where Swinney is coming off his worst season (7-6) since 2010.

He led the Tigers to four national championship games in the 2010s and won two of them (in 2016 and '18) with Elliott on his staff. Lately, though, Clemson has struggled, going 4-4 in ACC play in two of the past three seasons.

Swinney was one of the last holdouts against the new trend of signing veteran transfers — one that Elliott has embraced at Virginia — and the recent results speak for themselves.

It seems sacrilegious that a coach with Swinney's resume (a 187-54 record, 18 straight bowl appearances, the two national titles) could be on the hot seat. Then again, at this time last year, Brian Kelly was firmly entrenched as LSU's coach, and James Franklin had the nation's second-ranked team at Penn State.

As much as Elliott has embraced his role at Virginia, he "didn't come to Virginia to go somewhere else. I came to Virginia to make Virginia a destination," Elliott said after an opening 34-8 romp over NC State — he wouldn't be human if he weren't intrigued by the hypothetical chance to coach his alma mater.

And it makes sense that if Virginia keeps winning, the Tigers would have Elliott on their short list when and if they start looking for Swinney's successor.

Again, this is all hypothetical. Maybe Clemson takes out its frustration on Georgia Southern next weekend, then beats North Carolina and California in its first two ACC games. Maybe the Tigers even stun ACC favorite Miami in an Oct. 3 home game, and Swinney is king of the town again.

Or maybe even if he's pursued, Elliott rejects the siren song and doubles down on his commitment to rebuild a Virginia program to levels that would have made the late Hall of Fame coach, George Welsh, proud. Maybe the grass isn't greener elsewhere, despite Clemson's superior football budget, fanatic following and high expectations.

If Virginia keeps winning and Clemson continues to struggle, though, the rumors could get louder and threaten the Cavaliers' focus on earning their first-ever College Football Playoff berth. Recall the circus that surrounded Mississippi last season while Kiffin flirted with LSU in the middle of the Rebels' run to the CFP.

That's a problem Elliott and the Cavaliers would prefer to avoid.

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