Through the years Clemson has had some prolific offensive football teams and stars, especially in the last 15 years when the no-huddle, fast-break offenses became the norm in college football.

The Clemson Insider went through the archives to find the best offensive football teams in Clemson history. What are the criteria for the 10 best offenses in Clemson history? Obviously, yards and points per game will stand out, as will offensive playmakers. How many All-ACC or All-Americans were on the team? Where did they rank in the ACC, nationally and much more?

Today, we continue our list with what TCI believes is the No. 7 offense in Clemson history.

2003

When you look at the number of All-ACC players from the 2003 offense, it does not appear to be a great offense. Clemson had just two players earn All-ACC honors in wide receiver Derrick Hamilton and offensive tackle Gregory Walker.

With quarterback Charlie Whitehurst returning after a record-breaking freshman campaign in 2002, expectations were high for the Tigers after back-to-back seven-win seasons. Clemson had talented skill players, too, such as wide receivers Hamilton, Airese Currie and Kevin Youngblood, tight end Ben Hall and running back Duane Coleman.

But things did not start off too well. Eleventh-ranked Georgia manhandled the Tigers in the season opener with a 30-0 shutout. The Bulldogs held the Tigers to 236 total yards. At the time, no one thought this would be one of Clemson’s 10 best offenses of all-time.

However, the Tigers rebounded with wins over Furman and Middle Tennessee in the following weeks and then showed promise in a 39-3 blowout of Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Clemson totaled 436 yards, the third straight week they recorded 400-plus yards in a game. Whitehurst threw three touchdown passes and completed 23 of 39 passes for 298 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown pass to Hamilton and a 50-yard scoring pass to Tony Elliott, who is now Clemson’s co-offensive coordinator.

The 39-3 win was the last time Clemson defeated the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta.

Though Clemson lost two of its next four games, the offense still continued to put up big numbers as it had 488 total yards in an overtime win over Virginia and then 528 yards against North Carolina in a 36-28 victory.

Then came the Wake Forest game, though the Tigers gained 405 yards and ran 81 plays, they turned the football over five times. Two of those turnovers were returned for touchdowns as Clemson was humiliated, 45-17, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

However, the Tigers rallied the next week and began a streak that is only known as “The Finish.” With head coach Tommy Bowden’s job on the line, Clemson beat No. 3 Florida State, 26-10, in Death Valley. Whitehurst threw a couple of touchdown passes and the offense totaled 425 yards in the Tigers’ first win over the Seminoles since 1989.

The next week against Duke, the offense continued to roll as they racked up 486 total yards in a 40-7 victory at Death Valley.

Then came the famous 63-17 win in Columbia, South Carolina. The 46-point win is the largest margin of victory in the history of the rivalry. Whitehurst threw three touchdown passes to Hall, Hamilton and Currie before most of the fans had even sat down. He threw another one to Coleman in the third quarter for his fourth of the game.

Whitehurst completed 18 of 26 passes for 302 yards, while the Tigers totaled a season-high 542 yards overall.

Clemson followed up the rout over the Gamecocks with another strong performance in the Peach Bowl against No. 6 Tennessee. The Volunteers had no answer for the Tigers as they built a 20-point lead by the third quarter in a 27-14 victory.

In the last four games of the season, Clemson’s offense averaged 39 points and 463.0 yards per game. Whitehurst finished the year with a school-record 3,561 passing yards to go along with 21 touchdown passes, which tied Woodrow Dantzler’s mark set in 2001.

Hamilton became the second Clemson wideout in history to tally more than 1,000 receiving yards, while also setting a Clemson single-season record with 10 touchdown receptions. Youngblood led the Tigers with 70 catches for 897 yards, while Coleman ran for 615 yards and caught 34 passes for 309 more.

Clemson finished the year averaging 420.5 yards per game, the fourth best average in Clemson history at the time. The Tigers 283.6 passing yards per game set a new standard for passing in Tigertown.

—Above photo of Charlie Whitehurst against South Carolina in 2003 (courtesy of Clemson Athletic Communications)

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