Clemson’s latest double-digit win season was different than many of the others, which not everyone involved with the football program believes is a bad thing.
In fact, ask new offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter his thoughts on the struggle that was the 2021 season at times, and he believes it could act as a springboard to another run to the College Football Playoff for the Tigers.
“Absolutely,” Streeter said following Clemson’s Cheez-It Bowl win over Iowa State.
Of course, calling the Tigers’ latest season a struggle needs proper context. Yes, Clemson won at least 10 games for the 11th straight season, but the bowl victory was a prime example of how often the Tigers lived on the edge amid a season in which few of its wins came comfortably.
Clemson, which needed a last-minute defensive stand to pull out the six-point win over the Cyclones, not only missed out on the CFP for the first time since the 2014 season but also failed to play for an ACC championship. That was, in large part, due to a step back in offensive production that forced the Tigers to scratch and claw for success more often than they’re accustomed to doing.
“As y’all know, there was some adversity that our team, to be honest with you, probably needed,” Streeter said.
With two future first-round draft picks at quarterback, including last year’s No. 1 overall selection in Trevor Lawrence, Clemson morphed into an offensive juggernaut during its recent six-year CFP run. The Tigers finished no worse than 38th nationally in yards or points – that happened when Kelly Bryant bridged the gap from Deshaun Watson to Lawrence in 2017 – and outscored ACC opponents by an average of at least 17.7 points in each of those seasons while losing just three conference games during that span.
From 2018-20, Clemson’s average margin of victory in league games was 35.2 points, 35.7 and 28.7, respectively.
This season, despite having the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense, the Tigers lost two league games and won the other six by an average of just 8.6 points, a number boosted by Clemson’s 21-point victory over Wake Forest in its conference finale. Four of the Tigers’ league wins were decided by one possession.
Quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei was inconsistent for much of his first season as Lawrence’s successor as he fought through injuries toward the end, and Clemson’s offense also dealt with a slew of other injuries that made continuity nearly impossible for the unit to achieve.
But as much of a white knuckler as it was for the Tigers at times, Streeter believes they will be better off for it.
“It’s not easy to win,” Streeter said. “You can’t come to Clemson and just expect to win by 30 points. We were fortunate the last six years previous to this year to do that in a lot of games. That’s just not reality. So I think our kids learned to push through a lot of stuff, especially with all the adversity we had. And learned the next man up mentality. And learned you have earn every single win. It’s doesn’t just happen. All of those things were lessons that they learned this year.”
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