Perhaps one of the most talked about units in the country over the last three weeks has been the Clemson offense and offensive coordinator Garrett Riley has had many eyes on him over the Tigers’ recent successes.
Clemson averaged 29.8 points per game a season ago. In the team’s past two games, the Tigers have averaged 62.5 points per game against Appalachian State and NC State, double the amount of points. However, Riley believes that it is the “confidence” the team now plays with, especially with an experienced, junior quarterback in Cade Klubnik leading the charge.
“I think our guys understand we left a lot out there in game 1, “Riley said on Wednesday to the media. “Even though that was a disappointing day, our players had the right mindset and I think it was really evident that ‘Hey, we just got to put this together and do it.”
Garret Riley
And that’s what they did. On the third play from scrimmage in the Tigers’ next game, Klubnik hit freshman receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. over the top to score a 76-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring.
“Obviously, that was a huge play, the beginning of the game and to just take the top off, as we all know is what we like to do,” he said. “I think our guys just gained a lot of confidence, but that play is a big piece of it.”
Now, according to Riley, it begins a little bit of a domino effect, especially with the playbook that the former TCU coach calls. Many have now called it “Garrett Riley’s offense” due to the number of big plays that the Tigers have executed, unlike the screens and short passes that the Tigers have been known for since the departure of the legendary Trevor Lawrence. Although that phrase was not said to the media, Riley thinks that the results that the team is receiving allow them to be more aggressive in playcalling.
“Anytime that you’re executing at a high rate, it’s going to allow you to maybe be a little more aggressive or do some things that you know that your guys are in the zone, they’re in the groove, and you feel a little confident about them executing,” he said. “So anytime, whatever offense you’re running, if you are executing at a higher rate, you’re probably going to feel more comfortable with doing some of that and opening it up.”
Garret Riley
Most of the confidence, according to the players, has come from the offensive line, which has been revolutionized under the mentorship of coach Matt Luke. From Riley’s point of view, the coach has been able to see a different type of mentality from the group as a whole, with Luke’s mindset playing a vital role.
“It’s a unit that’s playing well,” Riley said. “We are running the ball and protecting the quarterback, and from a lot of things that they do up from, in terms of IDs and being on the right guys and all those things, they have a hard job. But they are doing that stuff at a high rate and obviously, I think they’re playing with a great deal of passion and intensity up there.”
Likewise, blocking downfield has been something that Clemson has done quite efficiently, especially with its young players. With the tight ends and receivers successfully blocking plays downfield, which has led to many touchdowns over the past two games, Riley knew how important it would be since the beginning of camp.
“It became pretty evident that that was going to be something we would be really good at in fall camp,” he said. “We had a lot of opportunity to coach that [and] coach it hard, and those guys know how important that is now.”
An offensive coordinator’s best friend and closest person on the offense, which is inevitable, is the quarterback, and Cade Klubnik has played like one of the best quarterbacks in college football over Clemson’s last two games. Not only does Riley believe that it is from the individual strides that have been made, but also the work that the players around him have worked for.
“He’s certainly grown, and there’s no question about it,” Riley said about his quarterback. Collectively, we are doing things at a higher rate that allows a quarterback to maybe grow with how we have seen the last couple of weeks. If we’re not all doing things at a high rate, it’s going to be hard for your quarterback to probably dramatically improve. So, I just attribute his growth to a lot of stuff that he has done individually, but I also attribute to what we are doing around him.”
But Riley believes there is more to be fixed with Klubnik, saying that “there’s always room for improvement”, no matter the player you are working with. While the Tigers have blown out their respective opponents with more than 20 points in the first quarters in both games, the Clemson offensive coordinator reminds his team that games will get closer, especially toward the end of the season.
“I’m quick to let him know every day that he doesn’t have it all figured out either,” he explained. “He’s been playing well the last two weeks, but there are certainly things he can still improve on. We left a little meat on the bone there the other day. I thought we had a few other opportunities to go get some touchdowns in the NC State game. But listen, he’s doing some great stuff, we just have to continue and know that we aren’t always going to be up 28-0 in the first quarter. I hope so, but that’s probably not going to happen every single game.”
Riley’s opening season with the Tigers was not always great compared to the one that he had a season before arriving. The Tigers’ 9-4 season was the first time the program had not reached 10 wins since 2011. While the season was one to forget compared to the past 14 years, Riley said that it was not the “toughest” of his career.
“I would say probably not,” he said. “I’ve been around and I’ve been a part of staffs and I’ve been fired twice. Everybody thinks that it’s just been easy, I’ve been on the other side a couple of times in my young career. I just think I’ve learned in any profession and in really anything, there’s going to be some bad times and you just got to learn how to take the great value of some of the bad experiences. I think I’ve been able to, hopefully, resonate a little bit with the players as we went through some adversity last year, that stuff is going to happen, and you have to learn from it. So I just took the same approach from a professional standpoint.”
The goal for the rest of the season for the Clemson offense? Consistency, according to Riley. Despite the team putting up several touchdowns a game over the last two games, he believes that his team cannot slow down if they want to get back to the College Football Playoff, or even take back the ACC crown this season.
“The biggest thing is the consistency,” he said. “We can’t just be really good this week and not as good the next week, and that’s the whole mindset for us right now. There’s some flashes of some great things in different areas, situational football, big plays, running the ball, throwing the ball [and] whatever. But we just got to make sure that we’re consistent. We will continue to improve.”
Riley and the offense will be back in action at Memorial Stadium this Saturday night as the Tigers host new ACC foe Stanford.
