Will Clemson’s Hiring of Garrett Riley Raise Offensive Performance?

Did Atlantic Coast Conference football just become more interesting?

There have been some thoughts that the ACC might be having a bit of a changing of the guard with the Tigers losing three games during two seasons in a row. That thought process just might have changed, and it happened rather suddenly.

Garrett Riley, #Clemson’s presumed new OC, has arrived at Pickens County Airport with his family and a Dabo Swinney welcome party. pic.twitter.com/nBrNaaW4dT
— Justin Robertson (@j_probertson) January 13, 2023

The move was quick and it also probably needed to be made. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney had seen enough.

Yes, Texas Christian’s offensive coordinator, Garrett Riley, was hired by Swinney and Clemson. Former offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter was let go earlier in the day.

In one short timeframe, the Tigers changed their offense from a struggling first-year offensive coordinator to the Broyles Award winner at offensive coordinator.

Clemson still won the ACC title game in 2021 and 2022, but it was far more about Clemson’s defense than the offense that allowed that to happen. Here’s a look at how Clemson’s offense ranked in two key areas during the 2022 and 2021 seasons.

(Represents Clemson's national ranking)

2022 Statistics

(Brandon Streeter was the offensive coordinator)

Scoring

: 33.2 (30).

Passing

: 232.4 (66).

2021 Statistics

(Now Virginia head coach

Tony Elliott

was the offensive coordinator)

Scoring

: 26.3 (82)

Passing

: 191.2 (103)

Considering the high-flying offenses that Swinney and Clemson utilized against the ACC and the rest of college football from 2015 through 2020, the past two seasons have been much easier for opposing teams to keep up with the Tigers.

Clemson went 11-3 in 2022 and 10-3 in 2021. Those were good seasons, but nothing like the six prior seasons that included national titles in 2016 and 2018.

Here are three examples of how Clemson’s offenses sputtered in big 2022 games:

During the fourth quarter, Clemson was down 28-0 at Notre Dame before scoring a couple of late touchdowns to end up losing 35-14. Clemson had just 281 yards of total offense, including 90 yards on the ground.

The final Clemson home game of the season against in-state rival South Carolina was supposed to help the Tigers make a case for the College Football Playoff. Instead, Clemson lost 31-30 to South Carolina and the offense accumulated just 336 yards from scrimmage. Worse, quarterback DJ Uiagalelei was 8-29 for 99 yards, one touchdown and an interception.

That abysmal passing performance might have been the final straw for Streeter anyway, but then Clemson was soundly defeated by Tennessee 31-14 at the Orange Bowl. Clemson’s offense struggled yet again.

The 484 yards of offense was misleading as the Tigers were 7-22 from the combined third and fourth down attempts, plus newly inserted quarterback Cade Klubnik threw two interceptions.

Can Riley quickly overcome the shortcomings that were evident for the Tigers the past couple of seasons? That’s hard to say. There’s no Deshaun Watson or Trevor Lawrence on the roster, but Klubnik was a national quarterback recruit and five-star prospect.

Perhaps Riley can help develop him the way he transformed TCU senior quarterback Max Duggan this past season.

Duggan had barely gone over 2,000 yards in 2019 and 2021, and then this past season he threw for 3,698 yards, 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Riley was successful with Duggan, so perhaps he could be again with Klubnik and future Clemson signal callers.

Riley does not possess a lot of experience, however. He was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for SMU in 2020-2021, prior to coming to TCU in 2022. Before SMU and TCU, his college quarterback coaching experience stemmed from one season at Kansas in 2017.

Clemson went for the gusto and hired the hot new offensive mind after parting ways with its former offensive coordinator. Teams that have been and will continue to try and dethrone Clemson atop the ACC, like Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, and North Carolina State, could have a new offensive challenge that’s arrived in Death Valley.

Will Clemson suddenly be dominant on offense once again? This situation was an example of why college football has long since been intriguing. It’s going to be a really interesting 2023 ACC football season.

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