Clemson Football: Perspective on offense’s improvement

How much did offense for Clemson Football improve this past weekend? That depends on how you look at their performance.

Fact: Clemson’s offense scored 41 points against Georgia Tech on Monday night. I know technically eleven points came from the place kicking team, but offense did set those scores up. I’ve always considered it most fair to credit extra points and field goals to the offense.

Then again, if we’re going to use that kind of logic, we need to acknowledge something: the punt coverage team set the offense up with a short field twice on Monday. First, Carson Donnelly blocked a punt that Brannon Spector recovered and returned to the Georgia Tech 5-yard line. Later, Wade Woodaz blocked a punt in his first college game. LaVonta Bentley returned that block to the Georgia Tech 15-yard line.

The offense punched both drives into the end zone, but there is a big difference between driving the length of the field versus getting the ball in the red zone.

If we acknowledge those two touchdowns were more the product of great special teams plays, and not efficient offense, then we are really talking about the offense being responsible for 27 points on Monday.

The Tigers scored 14 points against the Yellow Jackets in 2021 with two Will Shipley touchdowns.

The 41 offensive points from Monday night is a 193% increase over 2021’s productivity against the same team (understanding there was obviously turnover amongst Tech’s defensive players).

If we scrutinize the game more closely and allocate the two short-field touchdowns to the special teams, and the point total for the offense is instead 27, that still represents a 93% increase over the 2021 performance.

The improvement on offense for Clemson football is in the eye of the beholder, but more is needed for the Tigers to reach their potential

There is no way anyone can possibly make an argument that the offense didn’t improve over the Georgia Tech game in 2021, but the 41-point total by the offense isn’t truly representative of how much they have improved. Considering the 2021 offense’s challenges with sustaining drives, the real test for the 2022 offense is whether they can consistently put points on the board if the defense or special teams isn’t getting the ball in enemy territory.

If Clemson ends up in field position battles against teams with good defenses, like NC State or Notre Dame, they will need the offense to move the ball.