If a game ever showed where Dabo Swinney’s post-dynasty hires are and what he should do, the Texas vs Clemson game did it. Clemson has been trying to get back to their 2015-2020 level and had to replace lead offensive coaches Jeff Scott and Tony Elliot. On defense, he had to find a replacement for Brent Venables and his elite units.
OC Garrett Riley took over an offense 2 years ago that had become stale and unimaginative. Riley has started to instill an explosive nature to the Clemson offense we haven’t seen in years. Down 31-10 and without their top 2 RBs, Riley and QB Cade Klubnik who should return got the Tigers to within 31-24 against arguably the country’s best defense in Texas.
Klubnik threw for over 300 yards, the receivers are young and talented, and the offensive line while not dominant held their own most of the year. Garrett Riley is moving the Clemson offense in the direction it needs to go in if Clemson is to return to their glory years. Clemson fans should be comfortable with him leading the offense. A little side note – Dabo went outside the Clemson family to hire him.
How about the defense under Wes Goodwin?
Texas has a good offense, but not great. They didn’t break 30 points in 5 of their last 7 games, and Clemson’s defense under Wes Goodwin was a total no-show. Texas did anything and everything they wanted as they ran for 292 yards. As Clemson closed to 31-24 the defense gave up a TD in mere seconds, but this isn’t just one game.
Clemson has NFL talent, and their defense was 65th in the country after being 8th in 2023, and 28th in 2022 with mostly Brent Venables players. You have to go back to 2012 to find defenses worse than the 2022 and 2024 versions. The 2024 unit is the most telling about Goodwin. They faded in the 2nd half to Georgia, they were nowhere to be found against Louisville, nearly faded into losses against Pittsburgh and SMU, and fell apart late in against South Carolina. These were Goodwin players and his schemes, and it just isn’t working.
The defense didn’t improve from game 1 to 13. It was a soft, poor tackling, poor technique unit. Goodwin was hired from within the Clemson program without major coordinator experience and it’s showing up in the biggest games. Clemson is not a place to learn on the job, and after three years it’s clear Dabo needs to make a move at defensive coordinator, just like he did when brought in Garrett Riley to replace Brandon Streeter.
Make the move to keep building your program back Dabo.
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