A Tiger Talk: Clemson's Offensive Identity Isn't What Many Thought, But It's Working

Clemson football saw a different type of win last weekend in its win over North Carolina. The Tigers’ win over Cal reinforced that idea.

When offensive coordinator Chad Morris had his introductory press conference back in January, he had one sentence that stood out to me for eight months.

“We’re a two-back, run-oreinted play-action-shot football team that’s going to take great pride in moving the ball down the field,” he said.

Perhaps we stuck more to end of the sentence than the beginning. With the way that Clemson has moved the ball to score touchdowns, it’s gotten better over the four weeks, but it’s much different in the ways we saw it though Garrett Riley’s three seasons as offensive coordinator.

It’s through the ground instead.

Clemson ran for over 250 yards rushing on Friday night, and instead of names like Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore running the show, like many expected, the Tigers methodically took over the line of scrimmage through the ground game. Eventually it worked.

That 75-yard rushing touchdown by sophomore Gideon Davidson wasn’t something that came out of nowhere: it came from wearing the opposing defensive line down with tempo. Morris’s group was able to do that with over 34 minutes of possession with the ball.

Clemson’s scheme also has a significant advantage with how it runs: its quarterback doesn’t have to do it all.

True freshman Tait Reynolds gets the ball out of his hands as quickly as he can most of the time, getting the receivers involved with screens or RPOs that make his skill position players make plays for him. Yes, we saw some deep balls go awry, but that’s not what he’s supposed to be doing at this point in his progression.

The Tigers have a strong defense, especially in the secondary. Unlike last season, from what we know, Clemson doesn’t have to score more than 30 points to win games, nor has it done so in any of its games this season. However, it’s about making the winning plays that the program has to do.

And I think that starts by setting the tone on the ground, and letting everything else play complementary.

The one caveat to this will be on Reynolds, or any quarterback that plays the position, has to make the right reads, and coordinators could take advantage of that with disguises for a first-year player.

However, even though the Tigers aren’t winning games like the way many think, playing through the ground in a gritty manner. It’s bringing the team together on making the winning plays that it couldn’t make in a 2025 season with high expectations.

So, it begs the question: how far can a team with momentum like this go to compete when playing against the best teams in the country? Clemson will find out as early as next weekend.

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