One of the most miserable seasons in a long time for Clemson is now in the books as the Tigers lost once more in the Pinstripe Bowl to finish the season 7-6. After making the College Football Playoff last season, this team came into the season with National Championship hype, and couldn't have been more of a disappointment.
The offseason now begins, and it's one of the most important in a long time for Dabo Swinney as the fanbase is demanding answers. The good news for Dabo Swinney is that he has an easy move to make that should instantly earn him some goodwill with the fanbase.
Garrett Riley sealed his own fate in the Pinstripe Bowl
The first move of the offseason for Dabo Swinney should be moving on from Offensive Coordinator Garrett Riley. This season, Riley had an offense filled with NFL-level talent, and the unit wasn't nearly good enough.
Including Saturday's 10-point showing against Penn State, the Clemson offense averaged just 27.23 points per game. When you take away the 45 points scored against Furman and the 27 scored against Troy, the team just scored 25.64 points per game.
When you look at the talent this Clemson offense had, the way that they struggled at times this season is unacceptable. Cade Klubnik was seen as a first-round pick and a Heisman front-runner coming into the season, yet he regressed a ton compared to last season. Klubnik never should've had a bad year, given his experience and the fact that he has 3 NFL caliber wide receivers in Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco, and TJ Moore.
Saturday's showing was the perfect encapsulation of everything that's wrong with this unit as they managed just 10 points against a Penn State team playing a ton of backups with an interim head coach. The offense didn't do their coordinator any favors with 6 dropped passes, but the play calling as a whole was abysmal.
The rushing attack was clearly struggling yet, Riley ran the ball 25 times with the team picking up just 1.7 yards per carry. The gameplan in the passing attack was far too reliant on screen passes which were ineffective the entire night.
As Clemson looks to replace a ton of talent on this offense starting with the quarterback, it's a perfect time to change coordinators. Riley was never able to reach the levels it had at TCU, and Swinney needs a coordinator who can deliver more consistent results.