Clemson Offense’s Big Steps Not Steep Enough vs. FSU
By: Cameron Burnett September 25, 2023

CLEMSON — There’s a lot of criticism following Clemson’s loss and rightfully so, but let’s get one thing straight: Garrett Riley called a near-perfect game and it was what Tigers fans had been clamoring for this season.

Before we get into numbers, let’s talk about the play design. We haven’t seen four-man bunch sets this year, and Riley went to the well often in pre-snap.

It was very rare that the Tigers didn’t have any window dressing against Florida State, and it allowed Clemson to overcome the Seminoles’ speed and virtually neutralized the pass rush of Jared Verse. Give left tackles Tristan Leigh and Collin Sadler their flowers as well.

On top of the pre-snap work, Riley clearly saved some of his arsenal for this game. Tight end Jake Briningstool had a 33-yard gain on a wheel route after sticking to simple concepts early in the season. He’s a lethal weapon in this offense and it was nice to se shin used as such.

Head coach Dabo Swinney said Clemson took a step forward in the loss, and it’s not often you feel better about a team when you lose control of your destiny. When you look at it, that actually is the case.

“I thought Garrett called a great game. I thought he called a heck of a game…just the critical mistake, the critical play has hurt us…but he’s given us a great opportunity to win every game. He’s done a heck of a job and I thought he managed it well,” Swinney said.

He admitted that the overtime 3rd-and-1 was a mistake, but that’s something we’ve dwelled on enough. Look at quarterback Cade Klubnik for example: he was excellent with Riley opening up the bag of tricks and he made confident throws we haven’t seen even when under duress.

429 yard of offense against a top-five team. Seven different receivers with multiple catches. The “dirt raid” fell a bit short with 3.6 yards per carry but eclipsing 100 yards on the ground in the second half as a strong effort.

All this is to say bare with this team. There’s a lot to be upset about, but Clemson’s players said they aren’t dwelling on the mistakes, so you shouldn’t either.