They say November is when champions are made, and Clemson football still has everything on the table.
The Tigers are undefeated in conference play, their ticket to gaining a bye in the new 12-team College Football Playoff. A lot of that success has come behind the offense, in its second year under Garrett Riley.
But Riley wants more.
“There’s always execution items,” Riley said on Wednesday. “You’re always going to look to strive to improve that way and the message, kinda the last month for our guys, was that we have to provide some consistency, and I think we improved in that area, but there’s always going to be room for improvement.”
Many bring this upcoming stretch back to the 2022 season for the Tigers, where they began the year 8-0 before being thumped by Notre Dame in South Bend, hindering their playoff chances.
Meanwhile, Riley was in Fort Worth, Texas, with an 8-0 TCU Horned Frogs Team when November came around. He took that team to the College Football Playoff and eventually the National Championship game before being hired at Clemson in January 2023.
For the offensive coordinator, confidence is key.
“I think the biggest thing is just continuing to get really really good at what we do, and that’s going to create confidence,” he said, “and in those moments, those key moments in games, where it’s a tight game or whatever, that’s what you’re always going to rely on. If our players are confident in that part of it, then we will tend to feel pretty good about that as coaches.”
Also the quarterbacks coach, Riley had eyes on him in terms of developing starting quarterback Cade Klubnik. Riley wasn’t worried, especially with some fans questioning on using the transfer portal to find an experienced signal caller.
“You’ve got to have patience, you know,” Riley said, “and there’s certainly a time in the fine line of when you got to make a change or whatever, or wherever you’re at, college, NFL, whatever it may be, but in my experience with just where I’ve been and the quarterbacks that I’ve been around, I think the more patient you are, I think you are going to pay the dividends for that later on, kind of reap the benefits of it in the long run.”
Now Riley is reaping the benefits. With a second-year starter in the keystone position, Klubnik is turning heads and producing numbers that put him with the best quarterbacks in the country.
And Riley saw it when he walked into fall camp.
“I saw a big jump once we got to fall camp this year,” he said. “I thought that he had a really, really good spring, but once we got in the meat of fall camp, I started to see that. That was my huge message to him in terms of throwing the ball and just decision-making, routine decision making at the quarterback decision is ‘we have to be automatic’, you know.”
While numbers may not have been apparent in the Tigers’ Week 1 loss to Georgia, Riley said that one of the best throws that he made this season was the deep pass to Antonio Williams in the opening quarter.
“The first big play of the Georgia game to Antonio was elite,” he said. “It was elite.”
Again, Riley isn’t satisfied, believing that Klubnik’s production that has been presented over the last six games is only the start, talking about “another level” in his game.
“Just with him specifically, there’s no question he’s matured. He still has another level he can go to. There’s no doubt about it. But he’s been a huge part with his legs the last few weeks, extending plays, some third down conversions, things like that are absolutely critical for some of the success that we had the last couple weeks.”
There was a buzz around some head coaching opportunities, as the college football season always has with each season, and Riley’s name has been spoken of with some schools, East Carolina was one specifically. However, Riley was quick to turn down the conversations of potentially going to another school at this point in the season.
“I know chatter will happen at times, but I’m where my feet are,” Riley said.
The team will be back in action at Memorial Stadium this Saturday at 7:30 pm against Louisville. ESPN will broadcast the game.
