The Clemson football program has had a very different 2023 season than many expected.
Heading into their Week 7 bye, few expected the Tigers to have two losses… but they do. Things have looked great on the defensive side of the ball, but the offense has been struggling mightily. We’ve seen flashes of excellence, but inconsistency has been a significant narrative this season.
During his weekly conference call Monday night, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney discussed Clemson’s offense and what we have seen from it.
“We have to get eleven guys consistently doing what we need them to do,” Swinney said. “So, we just have to be a little more precise. A little more precision with our execution and consistency in that. Obviously, we have to find a way to eliminate (the turnovers).”
Offensive coordinator Garrett Riley also mentioned all eleven guys not being on the same page. Riley stated how it felt as if one person was always out of sync in the offense against Wake Forest, causing issues.
Turnovers are a different story. We saw another two turnovers against the Demon Deacons, with Cade Klubnik and Will Shipley miscommunicating on a read and freshman wide receiver Tyler Brown muffing a punt. Lucky for the offense, the defense had them covered, allowing 0 points of turnovers against Wake Forest.
“We have had two massive turnovers in ball handling. One cost us big time. The other one, it cost us a possession,” the head coach said. “Fortunately, our defense did not give up the points. We have to clean that up and, again, just continue to grow our personnel and just play like we have played these last three games and the last two-quarters of this last game.
“We have outgained every single opponent we have played, and we have done a really good job on third down all year. I was proud of the fact we had three trips to the red zone (last week), and we got two touchdowns. I wish we had all three, but that is an area we needed to get better.”
Clemson’s got the bye week to clean things up before heading to No. 25 Miami on Oct. 21 for a huge road matchup.