ATLANTA- Clemson had improved on the offensive side of the ball. The Tigers were making plays on its first-team defense throughout fall camp and were ready for a real opponent. That was the theme coming into the season.

However, when 14th-ranked Clemson took the field against No. 1 Georgia on Saturday, what was seen was more of the same. An approach that was intent on relying heavily on the screen game and a reluctance to take shots down the field against a Bulldogs secondary that faced some questions in the preseason.

After winning the coin toss and electing to receive the opening kickoff, offensive coordinator Garrett Riley looked to have a plan to attack that Georgia defense. On the very first play, Riley schemed running back Phil Mafah open out in the flat and with a lot of room to run, but Cade Klubnik’s pass was off-target.

On the second play, Klubnik hits Jake Briningstool for a seven yard gain only for it to be nullified by a motion penalty on Adam Randall. Then on the next play, Briningstool would drop a pass, setting up a third and long, and things started to unravel quickly, as the decision was to have Klubnik run a QB keeper and he was dropped well short of the sticks. The Tigers would get one more chance due to a defensive penalty and on third and 10 Klubnik checked down to Mafah and it went for just two yards.

So what is the identity of this Clemson offense? From an outsiders perspective, that is a hard question to answer. Outside of believing that is heavily reliant on the short, quick passing game. In other words, a lot of screens. Even the run game seemed designed to attack the outside rather than between the tackles early in the contest.

All last season this offense relied on dinking and dunking it down the field and we all recall how that turned out. Last week Riley insisted he now has a much better idea of how to use the players at his disposal seeing as how most of them now have a year in his system.

Although, against Georgia, what fans saw was more of the same. Isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result?

“I feel at this point in the year, starting a season, compared to where we were a year ago, obviously, I feel like we got a little bit more of a pulse on our identity and kind of who we are and who our playmakers are,” Riley said last week. “What’s going to be our best personnel going up against Georgia or whoever. So I just feel like we got a little bit better feel that way.”

Outside of Antonio Williams, the wide receivers were non-existent. Tyler Brown, who led the team in catches in 2023 was not even targeted until the second half. Adam Randall had multiple penalties, critical ones, and no catches. He was only targeted once. Cole Turner stopped running his route on one of the few occasions they actually attempted to throw downfield. Former 5-stars Bryant Wesco and TJ Moore each were targeted just once and Moore didn’t even see the field until the second half. Those two were brought in because they added a different dynamic, but they need opportunities to show it.

Georgia had six passing plays that went more than 20 yards. That offense was explosive. Clemson had just one, and that came in the first half on a drive that resulted in no points. That just isn’t going to yield the results expected of a program the caliber of Clemson’s.

Somewhere there is a disconnect. Something appears to be broken, and with App State coming to town next weekend for the home-opener, there isn’t a lot of time to get it figured out.