CLEMSON — After the debacle that was the 2025 season at Clemson, Dabo Swinney insisted he was going back to his core instincts to get the Tigers turned around in time for this season.
One of those decisions was to bring Chad Morris back as offensive coordinator, and seven games in, it has been an utter failure. Look no further than the final play call in the Tigers’ 20-16 loss to Virginia Tech Saturday night. Facing a 4th-and-9 down by four with under a minute left, knowing it could be your final play of the game, a play-action pass was called. Everyone in the building knows you have to pass it there. No one is biting on that fake, and it puts the offensive line in a compromising situation. The result? The Hokies’ fourth sack of the night. Game over.
However, what we’re watching unfold in Clemson is far from Morris’ fault. He wasn’t supplied with the personnel needed to be successful at a high level in this era. Morris is stuck with a freshman quarterback, Tait Reynolds, who is trying to find his way and is struggling to do so.
Reynolds has certainly left a lot of meat on the bone since taking over. He’s had issues in the read option game and reading the field. He also still holds onto the ball too long at times.
On top of that, this team is trying to break in a first-year quarterback, who by the way, missed basically all of his senior season in high school, behind an offensive line that featured a little too much youth and inexperience coming into the season. And those decisions fall on the head man.
Just Not There Yet
Reynolds shows some promise. You can see the potential. However, therein lies one of the problems. It’s hard to win games in the portal era on potential.
Yes, we are beyond beating a dead horse at this point, but how much better would this offense be right now if the Tigers had chosen to go out and add an experienced quarterback from the portal? A one-year plug-and-play signal caller would have allowed Reynolds to sit, watch and learn for a season. Instead, he’s been thrown into the fire before he was ready.
There was a point in the third quarter where Clemson went away from the read option plays and called more designed quarterback runs, which led to more success. 13 of Clemson’s 16 points came in that quarter, and Reynolds did complete 13 straight at one point. But once again, inconsistency doomed the offense, as the first two series in the fourth quarter led to just 23 yards and one first down, which helped Tech hold onto the ball for more than 10 minutes in that final quarter.
Reynolds may eventually get there, but until then, his journey is going to continue to experience some growing pains.
No Magic Fix
There is really nothing that can fix some of the issues we are seeing at this point. As Swinney likes to say, you’ve got who you’ve got.
While some may be calling for Christopher Vizzina to be reinserted at quarterback, that wouldn’t fix the offensive line issues. After the way he lost the job, is it even feasible to turn back to him at this point?
Next up for Clemson comes a trip to Tallahassee. Another road game for the freshman quarterback against a team that will have had two weeks to prep. And against a team that gave No. 1 Miami all it could handle, and then some, a week ago. The Tigers are already 5.5-point underdogs.
Another Offseason of Change?
The addition of Morris wasn’t the only change for this program during the offseason. However, most of the change came on the defensive side of the ball, and we have seen the results.
The Tigers registered six sacks, 10 tackles for loss and forced five three-and-outs on Saturday. The unit held the Hokies to under 100 rushing yards and just 234 yards of total offense. Virginia Tech only scored 20 points, despite not forcing a turnover. That’s generally the recipe for victory. However, not with this offense, and with what we’ve seen over the first seven games, it’s probably safe to assume we’re not going to see THAT much improvement down the stretch.
At this point, you are who you are, and the Tigers just aren’t very good offensively.
Even without hitting portal hard on that side of the ball, Clemson ushered in a new quarterback, several new offensive linemen and a new offensive coordinator after last season. It was the dawn of a new era. None of it mattered much. As the old saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
What kind of changes will the next offseason bring?
