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Clemson Football

Dabo Swinney says Clemson's offense is further along in 2019 than it was last year

September 18, 2019
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Let’s get this out of the way: three games into the season, Clemson is winning football games by comfortable margins.

Scratch that. Clemson is dominating football games.

And yet, even in a 41-6 victory on the road against an opponent that has given Clemson all it could handle the last two years, there are still questions - even concerns - about the efficiency of what outsiders believed was supposed to be the best offense in the country. Few expected that Clemson’s defense, which has had to replace so many pieces, would be carrying the load so far.

All offseason, head coach Dabo Swinney said that this year’s team had a long way to go if it were going to be championship-caliber. At the time, we sort of rolled our eyes at that concept. But maybe the head man was on to something.

As we wrote this morning, Clemson is not a finished product. Now don’t hear what we’re not saying. Some minor deficiencies in an offense that is averaging 39 points and 544 yards per game is a good problem to have. In fact, the scary part is that every week the same storyline is that Clemson’s offense “left some money on the table.”

But on Tuesday, Swinney said that even amidst some of the “struggles” this offense has faced so far this season, it is still much further along than what this offense was through three games in 2018 when Clemson was 3-0 and shuffling two quarterbacks.

“It's not even close after three games, to be honest with you,” Swinney said.

“It's not even close after three games, to be honest with you,” Swinney said.

Swinney chalks that up to who his team has played so far this season as opposed to last season. In 2018, Clemson opened up with Furman, Texas A&M, and Georgia Southern. This year, Clemson is the only team in the country to play its first three games against teams from the Power 5 with wins over Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, and Syracuse.

“Offensively, I just didn't think we quite had that killer instinct yet and we were still a work in progress,” Swinney continued. “Justyn Ross was true freshman. Trevor Lawrence was still coming along and we were trying to figure everything out. Just weren't where we are right now as an offense. We are just way ahead.”

Through three games in 2018, Clemson averaged 35 points and 517 yards of offense per game. That was before Clemson put everything together and went on to finish the season winning 10 games by 20 points or more.

As far as the explosiveness of this offense is concerned, the Tigers shattered a school record for yards per play in 2018 at 7.35 yards, the first time a Clemson team has ever averaged above seven yards. Through three games this season, Clemson is averaging 7.49 yards per play.

Scary.

“After three games, we are scoring more points and averaging more yards than any time in the history of Clemson football,” Swinney said. “And we really haven't played great. There is so much out there.  There's no question in all phases, we're just further along.”

“After three games, we are scoring more points and averaging more yards than any time in the history of Clemson football,” Swinney said. “And we really haven't played great. There is so much out there.  There's no question in all phases, we're just further along.”

Clemson’s offensive sputters in September have been somewhat of a trend in recent years. We remember the beginning of Clemson’s 2016 championship season when Deshaun Watson apologized to Clemson fans everywhere the Monday after a 30-24 escape against Troy in week two.

By January, that offense was firing on all cylinders. The same can be said for last year’s Trevor Lawrence-led offense. Now, Swinney wants to see if that same improvement can be made with this group.

For example, the 2018 offense made a living off third-down conversions, especially in the 44-16 trouncing of the Crimson Tide in Alabama. So far this year? The Tigers rank 69th overall in the FBS in third-down conversion rate, only converting on 14 of the 35 they’ve had to deal with.

Those types of areas are what is keeping this explosive offense from being efficient. And maybe this weekend against Charlotte is where we see things start to improve. But hey, three games into this season, just being an explosive offense hasn’t been a bad way to maneuver.

“It's just little things. And that's going to come together quickly,” Swinney said. “But I like where we are. If we stay the course -- and make the same improvements and stay hungry -- we have a chance to be a special group.”

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Dabo Swinney says Clemson's offense is further along in 2019 than it was last year

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