Clemson went back in time by bringing back Chad Morris as offensive coordinator before the 2026 season, reintroducing the fast-paced scheme roots from his previous tenure with the Tigers that featured plenty of offensive success.

Morris was brought in to try to revitalize a Clemson offense that finished eighth in the ACC in total offense in 2025, averaging 392.2 yards per game and No. 11 in scoring offense at 27.2 points per game. Clemson also finished sixth in passing yards (267.8 per game) and 11th in rushing (124.5 per game).

“We are a two-back, run-oriented, play-action-shot football team that is going to take great pride in pushing the ball downfield,” Morris said earlier this year after being re-hired in January. “We want to push the ball down the field at least three times a quarter. That means the ball traveling down the field 25 yards or more three times a quarter. Chart it, let’s figure it out. Why it is not happening, and get the ball to our playmakers.”

Clemson hoped its 2026 offense would look familiar this season with Morris back at the helm, or at least produce somewhat similar results to those that Morris’ first stint with the Tigers yielded from 2011-14, when his offenses averaged 468.5 yards and 36.3 points per game in his 52 games as Clemson’s OC, ranking ninth and 12th, respectively, among power conference teams in those categories in that span.

Unfortunately, for the most part through two and a half games this season, Clemson’s offense did not look remotely familiar to Morris’ first go-round as offensive coordinator or resemble anything close to those record-setting offenses of the past.

However, Clemson’s offense flipped a major switch in the second half of Saturday’s game vs. North Carolina.

The Tigers (2-1, 1-0 ACC) found a way to come alive offensively after halftime, en route to a come-from-behind, 28-20 victory over the Tar Heels (2-1, 0-1) at Memorial Stadium.

The Tigers continued to struggle mightily offensively in the first half of the game against North Carolina, after already entering the game ranked dead last in the ACC for points (16.0 per game) and total yards (246.0 per game) while ranking near the bottom of college football in numerous other offensive metrics. Clemson came into the game ranked No. 134 among 138 FBS teams in total offense per game.

In the first half of the ACC opener for both Clemson and UNC, the Tigers were held out of the end zone and scored just six total points on a pair of field goals. It was especially sluggish in the first quarter, when UNC’s defense held Clemson to just 31 total yards and one third-down conversion, before the Tigers managed a march down to the 2-yard line late in the second quarter, settling for a field goal as the clock expired.

Boos rained down from the home crowd at Memorial Stadium as the Tigers’ attack was unable to muster a touchdown in the opening half, when Clemson had just 117 total yards, including 41 rushing yards, and nine first downs, averaging 3.3 yards per play.

But Clemson’s offense managed to pick things up after halftime, and then again after a lengthy weather delay that lasted nearly two and a half hours.

In the third quarter, Clemson scored its first touchdown on a 27-yard pass from true freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds to tight end Christian Bentancur, Reynolds’ first career TD pass.

The offense showed some explosiveness on that third-quarter drive, which also included a 41-yard catch-and-run by Bryant Wesco Jr., after Clemson’s offense looked lifeless for a lot of the game and once again failed to generate many big plays. Prior to his touchdown pass, Reynolds had gone 24 drives to start his career without leading a touchdown, excluding kneeldowns.

After the weather delay, with UNC resuming play in the red zone, leading 17-15 in the fourth quarter, Clemson’s defense came up with a stop to force the Tar Heels to settle for a field goal. Then, trailing 20-15, Clemson’s offense raced down the field on a four-play, 68-yard drive, capped by running back Gideon Davidson’s 8-yard rushing touchdown with 5:01 to play that gave the Tigers a 21-20 lead they would not relinquish.

After Clemson forced a turnover on downs on UNC’s ensuing possession, the Tigers added to their lead when wide receiver Tyler Brown scored a touchdown on a 34-yard wide receiver reverse.

Clemson finished with 401 total yards, with over half of those coming on the 92-yard, 68-yard and 44-yard touchdown drives. The Tigers went just five-of-13 on third downs and averaged only 2.6 yards per carry in the first half as the offensive line and running game continued to struggle. Clemson turned the ball over twice on a fumble by running back Jarvis Green and a bad interception by Reynolds, who ended up going 20-of-29 passing for 215 yards with the one touchdown and one interception in his first career start.

There was a lot of areas of concern that you could point to regarding Clemson offensively, coming into the UNC game, as the Tigers had scored just two total touchdowns through the first two games this season. It still wasn’t pretty at times Saturday, but the Tigers’ offense stepped up big late and came through with the trio of second-half touchdowns that helped propel the team to a big early season ACC win after trailing 17-3 midway through the second quarter.

Clemson returns to the field next Friday night when the Tigers travel to the West Coast to take on the California Golden Bears in Berkeley, Calif. (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).