Garrett Riley may be the scapegoat for now considering how disappointing the Clemson offense was in 2025, but it seems like there is a much bigger issue at Clemson. We have seen many instances where a coach fires an offensive coordinator and other coaches at the end of the season to save their own job and it seems that is what Dabo Swinney did.
The problem is that may fix the problem for a minute, but I would be shocked no matter who he brings in to run the offense in 2026 it will not be much better than what we saw this past season. It was interesting how good Cade Klubnik was in 2024 but was unable to come close to that in 25.
Before Klubnik of course we know how bad the DJ Uiagalelei saga went. He had that one great game against Notre Dame and we really never saw that again during his time at Clemson. Long missing are the days of great offense led by DeShaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. The expectations were set by Dabo but we know this Clemson program has not come close to a national title for quite some time in football years.
One has to wonder had Miami not choked at the end of the 2024 season to give Clemson a shot at the ACC Championship, I think this past season would have been Dabo's last.
Honestly, it is a mystery why Riley's offense did not work better overall at Clemson considering how successful his offenses were at SMU and TCU. We saw glimpses of greatness in 2024 which is why it is still shocking how bad the offense was in 2025. Dabo seems to have finally embraced the portal a little bit and everyone seemed to buy in on what the Tigers were going to do in 2025 and it never got off the ground. To blame Riley seems convenient but there seems to be far to it than his lack of play calling. It seems the talent was there but Klubnik regressed some and really hurt his draft stock.
We have seen the last two offensive coordinators under Swinney get fired so you have to start wondering how much leash does he have as the head coach. He has bought time as he deserves since he took the Clemson program to unfathomed levels of success, but it seems that time has run out on this successful relationship.
Watching how this season went and how lackluster they looked in the bowl game against Penn State with Klubnik playing. Dabo does not seem like the coach that will ever step away voluntarily so it will be interesting how the last days at Clemson go, but as of right now I would be shocked if we get past October with him as the head coach still.