With Georgia’s title-clinching victory over Alabama on Monday, the college football season came to its official end, which brings the biggest question regarding Clemson’s program for next season into focus: Can the Tigers get back to the College Football Playoff?

Dabo Swinney’s team isn’t used to watching the playoff from home, but that’s what happened this season with Clemson’s run of six straight CFP berths coming to an end. But was it a hiccup? Or will it be an extended stay outside the top 4 for the Tigers?

Despite some key losses, next season’s roster – as it’s constructed now — is still littered with enough four- and five-star talent to where it’s not far-fetched to believe the former. But there are questions and concerns, particularly given some of the issues that led to the Tigers losing three games for the first time since 2014.

Here’s what needs to happen for Clemson to be back in the CFP in 2022:

Better quarterback play

There’s no point in beating around the bush here. If the Tigers don’t improve at the most important position on the field, there won’t be any playoff next season either.

Some degree of regression was to be expected with Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne, two of the best players to ever come through the program, no longer around. But few could have predicted Clemson’s offense would take this big of a step back, particularly at quarterback.

D.J. Uiagalelei took over for Lawrence with plenty of hype as a former five-star recruit himself but struggled to find consistency. Not all of that was on Uiagalelei. The help around him was far from whole as injuries (more on that later) and other attrition piled up throughout the season, and even Uiagalelei himself played through a sprained knee and a bum index finger on his throwing hand over the last few games. He deserves credit for that.

But Uiagalelei finished with the second-lowest completion rate among starting quarterbacks in the ACC (55.6%) and threw more interceptions (10) than touchdown passes (9). Clemson finished 82nd out of 130 FBS teams in scoring, 100th in yards and 103rd in passing yards.

With a 6-foot-4, 245-pound frame and a rocket right arm, Uiagalelei has all the physical tools, but he has to be better. If not, Clemson might turn to another five-star signee, incoming freshman Cade Klubnik, who will begin competing with Uiagalelei this spring as an early enrollee. 

Rediscover offensive explosion

Not only did Clemson average 17 fewer points and 143 fewer yards than it did a season ago, but the Tigers also ranked last in the ACC at 5.1 yards per play. That’s more than a yard and a half less than the 6.69 Clemson averaged per snap in 2020, which was good for second-most in the league.

In other words, the explosiveness Clemson’s offense has grown accustomed to in recent years largely disappeared. And the Tigers need it back.

Clemson tied Boston College and Syracuse for the fewest plays of 20 or more yards in the ACC, and the Tigers also matched the Orange’s 22 plays of at least 30 yards for the fewest in that department. Nobody in the league had fewer plays of at least 40 and 50 yards than Clemson, which produced just 13 such plays. For comparison’s sake, the Tigers had nearly double that amount a season ago (25).

Unless the defense set the offense up with a short field, the lack of big plays forced Clemson to sustain long drives more often than not if it wanted points, which is a big ask of any offense. And, as the Tigers showed, it’s just as difficult to do that without eventually making a mistake. The Tigers committed 19 turnovers, fourth-most in the ACC.

Find adequate replacements for veterans

The end of every season spells the end of some players’ collegiate careers, and Clemson is losing some of the most seasoned players on its roster.

Fifth-year lineman Matt Bockhorst and top wideout Justyn Ross are the most notable departures on offense, but the nation’s No. 2-ranked scoring defense also has some major voids to fill with some of the program’s most recognizable names in recent years on the way out the door.

Sixth-year linebacker James Skalski is out of eligibility after leading Clemson in tackles this season. Skalski’s running mate for the last few years, outside linebacker Baylon Spector, is also done after five years in the program. The same goes for safety Nolan Turner, who also hung around for six years and started for three of them.

And don’t forget about Andrew Booth and Mario Goodrich, who are headed to the NFL after making up the ACC’s top cornerback tandem. Between the two, that’s 14 pass breakups and five interceptions from this season alone that Clemson is losing in secondary.

But it’s not just their talent the Tigers have to replace. Skalski, for example, played in as many games as anybody ever has at Clemson (69) and was the heart and soul of the Tigers’ defense, so there’s a leadership factor that has to be taken into account when losing veteran players like this.

Some of the replacements may already be on the roster. Some may come from the transfer portal. But Clemson has no small task in finding them.

Stay healthy

More like relatively healthy considering injuries are going to occur over the course of a football season, but even that proved to be a monumental chore for Clemson this season.

Well before Uiagalelei sustained his knee injury against Louisville in early November, the Tigers lost safety Landen Zannders for the season (shoulder), defensive tackle Bryan Bresee for the season (torn ACL), fellow defensive tackle Tyler Davis for a handful of games (bicep surgery), Bockhorst for the season (torn ACL), receiver Frank Ladson for most of the season (groin surgery), freshman punt returner Will Taylor for most of the season (torn ACL), defensive end Justin Foster for most of the season (back) and leading rusher Will Shipley for a handful of games (leg). That doesn’t count the season-ending injuries to some of the depth players before the season even started.

Clemson started eight different combinations along the offensive line because of attrition (and performance). And by the time Ross, Joseph Ngata and E.J. Williams went down with injuries late in the season, the Tigers ended it without four of their top receivers.

Some of it is simply luck of the draw, but Clemson needs to avoid another wave of significant injuries, particularly to that volume of key contributors. If it can (and the quarterback play improves), Clemson still has enough talent to be in the mix to…

Win the ACC

This has never failed Clemson. In fact, it’s rarely failed any Power Five conference champion.

Only three teams that have ever made the CFP since its inception in 2014 – Alabama in 2017, Notre Dame in 2020 and Georgia this season – weren’t a conference champion. Starting with Florida State in 2014, the ACC champion has finished in the top 4 every season but one.

That was this year when Pittsburgh finished 12th in the CFP rankings after winning the league, but the Panthers did so with two losses, something Clemson is likely going to want to avoid. The Tigers do travel to Notre Dame next season for a marquee non-conference game that could give Clemson’s postseason resume a major boost should the Tigers win it, but no two-loss team has ever made the CFP.