The open date probably came at a good time for the Clemson football team.

It definitely hasn’t always been pretty, but Dabo Swinney’s team sits at 3-2 coming out of the bye week, exactly where most thought the team would be at this point in the season.

The Tigers have won the three games they were expected to win and lost to two in which they were underdogs.

It may be hard to believe, but Clemson comes out of the open date in a pretty good spot, especially after the happenings around the ACC over the weekend. Duke and Pitt both suffered its first conference loss, as there is now a logjam of one-loss teams, including the Tigers, sitting behind unbeatem Miami in the ACC standings.

Here are five strorylines to follow as Clemson comes out of the open date.

1. Figure Out the O-Line: If this team has any shot at locking up at spot in Charlotte, the five guys up front have to be better.

Over the final two quarters in the comeback win over North Carolina and in the road victory at Cal, the offensive line looked like it was headed in the right direction. However, major issues resurfaced in the most recent loss to fourth-ranked Miami, especially on the right side.

We already know Easton Ware will be taking over at right guard, which has been one of the biggest problem areas for the unit. Ronan O’Connell and Grant Wise have seen a bulk of the time there so far, but Ware took over during the loss to the ‘Canes and played well after being inserted.

It also wouldn’t be surprising to see a change at right tackle. Collin Sadler has started the last four games there after missing the opener against LSU due to an injury, but the veteran has been wildly inconsistent. If Elyjah Thurmon is indeed ready to return, maybe he slides outside to that spot.

Either way, that side of the offensive line has a lot of room for improvement, and this staff needs to find answers quickly. The Tigers have allowed 17 sacks already, ranking next to last in the league, and freshman QB Tait Reynolds has taken a beating at times. If the protection doesn’t get cleaned up, the freshman signa caller might not make it through the season.

2. Red Zone Issues: Clemson has just five touchdowns in 14 red zone trips through the first five games. That is dead last in the ACC.

If this team wants to have any shot at finishing strong, that number must improve. And it’s not been one single thing leading to the issues. It’s been a collective effort. The leaky offensive line, untimely penalties and inexperience at quarterback have all factored in.

The red zone issues were a major part of the Tigers letting the game against Miami get away from them. The first two trips inside the 20-yard line only produced one field goal. By the time Clemson finally punched in a red zone opportunity, the game was basically already out of reach.

Nolan Hauser has been as close to automatic as a kicker can be this season, hitting 12-of-13 field goal attempts, but at some point this offense has to start converting these red zone trips into touchdowns.

Maybe involving the tight ends more close to the end zone would help. Olsen Patt-Henry and Christian Bentancur have combined for just one touchdown catch to this point in the season, and that one did not come from inside the red zone.

3. Establish Ground Game: So far, the only consistency for this offense has been inconsistency. However, when it’s been at its best — the second half against UNC and the Cal game — the running game was being leaned on heavily.

Gideon Davidson has already shown capable of carrying a heavy workload. Look no further than his 22 carries in the win over Cal, and his best runs came late in that one, so he appeared to get stronger as the game went along.

Reynolds has certainly shown a lot of growth over his first three starts, but he is far from a finished product at quarterback. An effective ground game would take some of the weight off his young shoulders.

One reason Chad Morris was brought back as offensive coordinator was to help breathe some life into a running game that had seen its share of struggles in recent seasons. More consistency in dedicating yourself to that can’t hurt.

The Tigers are dealing with some injuries behind Davidson. Jarvis Green has already been ruled out for the Charleston Southern game on Saturday, and David Eziomume is out for the season after being injured against Cal. Although Chris Johnson looks to finally be finding his footing in the running game, Jay Haynes is expected back this weekend. Haynes has not played since tearing his ACL against SMU in the 2024 ACC Championship Game.

4. Keep Improving Up Front: One of the bigger questions coming into the season centered on the defensive tackles, but despite some devastating luck on the injury front, Clemson has seen some improvement there.

Champ Thompson has really started to come on in the absence of transfers Markus Strong and Kourtney Kelly. JUCO addition Andy Burburija seems to get better with each passing week, and transfer Devarrick Woods was a bright spot before going down with his own injury. Woods did play a small number of snaps against Miami and should be ready to roll after the open date. Darien Mayo is showing some promise there after moving from defensive end ahead of the Cal game.

Kelly is also expected to make his debut following the bye, possibly as early as Saturday against Charleston Southern, and that would be a significant boost for that room. If Vic Burley and Amare Adams can find more consistency, this position group should continue to get better over the back half of the season.

5. Continue Strong Special Teams Play: Rich Bissacia has been exactly what Clemson’s special teams needed. The Tigers have been so much more aggressive in the return game. It certainly helps when you have dangerous return men like Chris Johnson and Bryant Wesco. Johnson hasn’t been shy about bringing kicks out of the end zone and is averaging 23.7 yards per return. Wesco is averaging 15.4 yards per punt return and has taken one to the house. We have even seen the Tigers aggressively come after punts a time or two.

We have already touched on Hauser and the kind of weapon he’s been, but despite not having what some would call the strongest leg, Jack Smith has also been pretty effective at times with his punts. 11 of those have been downed inside the 20-yard line. On the other side of that, you’d probably like to see his average above the 38.7 yards per punt it is currently at.