By Will Vandervort.

Dabo Swinney described Clemson’s 40-6 victory over Oklahoma as just a fun night, and boy it was.

With a quarterback that had been scrutinized for much of the season, a new quarterbacks coach and two new offensive coordinators, the Tigers had one of their more efficient games of the season from an offensive standpoint.

With Tony Elliott calling the plays, Jeff Scott relaying information to and from the field and Brandon Streeter coaching up Cole Stoudt, Clemson generated 387 total yards, including 319 passing yards in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

It was a result that stunned just about everyone but the guys wearing the orange jerseys and pants.

“You know, this is just how it’s always been,” Stoudt said. “I know we had a team meeting after the whole situation with Coach (Chad) Morris taking the head coaching job, but our Clemson offense didn’t get on the plane with them.

“There is still a room where all the players are at. Even when Coach Morris was here, it was still a team effort and everyone was constantly communicating and making the offense the best that it is. And we really played off of each other and that’s what we kept doing.”

Stoudt wasn’t the same has he always has been. The senior struggled most of the year in throwing 10 interceptions to only six touchdown passes. But against Oklahoma he was magnificent in throwing for a career-high 319 yards and three touchdowns while completing 26 of 36 passes and no interceptions.

The offense looked refreshed and looked just as confident as it was when Morris was calling the plays and Deshaun Watson was throwing all the touchdown passes. Was it because Elliott and Scott were running the offense, now? Was it because Streeter was working exclusively with Stoudt? Or was it all of the above?

“It hasn’t been different than what it’s been,” Swinney said. “We’ve always had a collaborative effort. (Elliott) and Jeff were great together. Certainly, there’s always been times when I’ll interject (in the offense). I’m an offensive guy. I always have been. But you’ve got to have somebody who’s in charge and Tony’s done a great job of taking on that lead.

“But we’ve worked very well together, the whole group, Streeter, Coach Pearman, Coach Caldwell, myself, and obviously Tony and Jeff.

“So it was just a fun night. But we had an excellent plan, excellent preparation and practice, but it was just a great group effort. You know, Jeff Scott and Tony Elliott did a fantastic job in pulling it together.”

But Elliott said it wasn’t him, Scott or Streeter.

“The big plays, that goes out to the players,” he said. “We put them in position to be successful, but they have to go out there and make a play. There are some things I can do better and I will go back and look at those things.”

The biggest thing Elliott and the rest of the offensive coaches did was keep things simple and played off the things the offense as a whole did well together. One of those things was playing with a stronger sense of urgency when it came to tempo.

“We wanted to get back to that. We wanted to put the kids in position to be successful. We were not asking them to do too much. It allowed them to have fun, play fast and know what they are doing,” Elliott said.

And they did it well.