Garrett Riley’s offense showed how efficient it can be during Saturday’s blowout win over North Carolina.

Cade Klubnik tossed four first-half touchdown passes, as the Tigers raced out to a 35-3 lead at the break.

Before the bye week, with Clemson sitting at 1-3, Riley had taken a lot of heat for the offense’s inability to put points on the board consistently. However, Dabo Swinney was more than pleased with what he saw from his offensive coordinator on Saturday in Chapel Hill.

“The game was well-called,” the head coach said. “It was sequential. We set some things up. We manipulated some things that we thought we could based on our prep. Got the ball to our playmakers.”

It’s hard to be more efficient than Klubnik was against the Tar Heels. The senior quarterback completed 22-of-24 for 254 yards and the four touchdown throws, with Swinney giving his signal caller a lot of praise for how smoothly things ran.

“Just played with a lot of rhythm, and I give Cade a lot of credit for that,” Swinney added. “He made a lot of plays. The play on third and forever that set up the fourth down attempt, that was his fourth read. He just looked so comfortable. Thought Cade did an awesome job just sitting in the pocket, he looked very poised.”

The Tigers took control from the onset, racking up 253 yards of offense in the first quarter alone. The passing game was responsible for 10 plays that went for 15 yards or more, with Klubnik making eight of those throws.

Klubnik also took care of the football, which in turn helped set the stage for what Swinney thought was Riley’s best of the season.

“From a play call standpoint, I thought it was definitely our best game,” Swinney said. “All those things go hand in hand. When you are taking care of the ball, playing in rhythm, guys are taking care of the ball and making the plays that are there, it is a lot easier to get into a rhythm.”

Photo by Bart Boatwright