When the Clemson football program announced the addition of 2022 Broyles Award winner Garrett Riley as the Tigers’ new offensive coordinator, expectations were sky-high as fans were thrilled to have some new ideas and play-calling on the offense.
Clemson’s offense has not looked great in six games this season, leaving fans shocked and confused with what they have seen. Starting quarterback Cade Klubnik and the Tigers’ have had their moments, flashing a high ceiling. Still, inconsistency has left this offense looking like it is holding back an elite defense.
Riley met with the media on Monday, discussing the inconsistency we’ve seen from this offense.
“Big picture is we’ve just been inconsistent too much,” the offensive coordinator said. “Especially with the other day’s performance (vs. Wake Forest), I just feel like we’re too inconsistent, and that’s probably the biggest thing. So, a perfect time to have a bye week for us, kind of recalibrate, regroup, get some guys back, all that sort of thing. So, I just think it’s coming at a good time for us. Really hone in on those things and kind of tighten it up is our big focus going into the bye week.”
Agreed here, the bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for this offense. It seemed this unit was getting better by the week, but the narrow 17-12 win over Wake Forest was a rude awakening.
Discussing the inconsistency led to an interesting question for Riley… why does this Clemson offense doesn’t look like the TCU offense from last season. According to Riley, it is the same offense, but with different personnel come different looks.
“Every offense is different,” Riley said. “I mean, you’ve got different players, and you’ve got a younger quarterback, all those things. But we’re attacking a lot of the same ways. Not a lot of difference there, I would say. Just who we have and who we are right now, and just trying to work through it. The last few games, getting off to a faster start, I think, would allow us to probably unhook the plow almost a little bit sooner, right.”
Visually, this offense hasn’t looked much like TCU’s from last season, from my perspective, but it is tough to argue against the guy who is calling the plays.