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Garrett Riley knows December in college football is chaos. Coaches are on the move, rosters shift daily, and bowl preparation collides with recruiting. But Clemson’s offensive coordinator didn’t sound flustered when he met with reporters ahead of the Tigers’ bowl matchup against Penn State. He sounded steady.
“Every year this is kind of a wild time for everybody,” Riley said. “You’re trying to figure out your team for the bowl, who’s playing, recruiting. Typically, we’d be on the road recruiting, and now that rule has changed, so I feel like I’m almost just used to it. It’s just a wild time as you get towards the end of the season for a lot of reasons.”
That familiarity with the turbulence seems to be guiding Riley through one of the sport’s most unpredictable months. Clemson, like most programs, has faced the ripple effects of opt-outs and portal departures. But the focus, he said, remains simple and internal: win the game and enjoy the experience.
“You just have to take it day by day with everything in this job,” Riley said. “What I would say is the focus now is just, hey, let’s go win this game. Let’s go have a great bowl experience.”
The approach echoes the tone that Dabo Swinney has struck with his team since the regular season ended. While the outside noise centers on staff rumors and speculation about Riley’s own future, inside the building, the message has stayed clear—focus on the next meeting, the next practice, the next rep.
Riley noted that Swinney’s consistency helps the entire program navigate this period of flux.
“I just think the clear message from Coach Swinney, our leader, is it’s a daily focus,” Riley said. “We’ve had a good block of time to get refreshed, get some guys healthy, get some young guys and developmental guys a lot more reps in bowl practice.”
The 2022 Broyles Award winner understands that Clemson’s bowl preparation is as much about establishing momentum for next season as it is about the immediate result. Extra practices allow Riley to evaluate younger offensive pieces and experiment within the structure of the scheme, all while grounding the team’s mindset in the present moment.
For a program that has weathered both high expectations and public scrutiny, Riley’s perspective at this point feels stable.
That mindset may be exactly what Clemson needs as it looks to close its season with a statement performance against Penn State.
