Clemson offensive coordinator Garrett Riley admitted he wishes he had taken a more aggressive approach late in the Tigers’ last two games.
One of those was the rivalry loss to South Carolina, where Clemson’s offense stalled late in the second half. Despite nearly 200 yards of offense in the final two quarters, back-to-back three-and-outs allowed the Gamecocks to stage a comeback, outscoring the Tigers 10-0 in the fourth quarter.
“We had some chances to really put them away in both games, honestly in the first half,” Riley said. “Didn’t make a play here and there.”
A similar situation unfolded against SMU, where Clemson let a 31-14 lead slip away as the Mustangs scored 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Even though the Tigers leaned heavily on the passing game late, Riley believes they still could have pushed harder.
“The way the games have gone, we probably didn’t stay on the gas as much as I would have liked to,” Riley said. “Hindsight is 20/20 coming off the game.”
With Clemson now preparing to face Texas in Austin, Riley is focused on applying lessons from the past two games to ensure better execution in high-pressure moments against one of the nation’s top defenses.
“Trying to draw off the last two weeks for sure, on how we can hopefully close a little bit better,” Riley said. “Or keep the momentum going a little bit longer with what we’ve had offensively the last couple of games.”