Clemson Football: 2022 offense vs. 2021 offense

Clemson Football is not done with the 2022 season just yet. The Tigers will take on the Tennessee Volunteers in one of the more anticipated non-playoff matchups of the bowl season.

Recently, I began pondering the question “who has done the best job with their unit this season for the Tigers?” as posed by @Nachos_Analysis last month. While in-game performance is important to answer the question, I also thought the performance in 2022 versus 2021 was important.

The season doesn’t start when the regular season kicks off. All of the hard work by the team in the spring, summer, and fall figures into the question of performance by the staff.

I recently looked at the defense as a unit. While there were many reasons why it wasn’t realistic to expect the 2022 defense to achieve at the same level as the 2021 unit, the defense did take a step back.

Next, I looked at the offense for the same thing. How did the offense in 2022 compare to the unit that had everyone pulling out their hair in 2021?

I used statistics from teamrankings.com. These stats are for games against FBS competition only. The 2021 game against South Carolina State and the 2022 game against Furman are not included.

Total points per game

• 2021: 24.4, FBS rank: 85th
• 2022: 34.7, FBS rank: 20th

Yards per game

• 2021: 348.7, FBS rank: 98th
• 2022: 407.0, FBS rank: 46th

Yards per play

• 2021: 5.0, FBS rank: 103rd
• 2022: 5.5, FBS rank: 58th

Third Down Conversion Percentage

• 2021: 35.26%, FBS rank: 102nd
• 2022: 48.63%, FBS rank: 10th

If someone were to tell me an offensive unit ranked around 20th in scoring and the 40-50 range in yards per game and per play, I would tell you that it is an average offense in the big picture. After all, sometimes it was the defense that scored points. Nothing to write home about.

When we compare that to where Clemson was in 2021, we see the improvement. Over 60 ranking spots higher in scoring. Over 40 ranking spots better in yards per game and per play.

The most impressive stat is that the Clemson offense improved 3rd down conversion rate from 102nd in the nation to the Top 10 in 2022.

The original question posed by Nachos & Analysis was about which coach performed best in 2022. In the responses, I saw multiple people say Wes Goodwin, and those are fair answers considering the defense typically has a higher ranking in key statistical categories than the offense.

I also saw zero answers saying Brandon Streeter had the best performance in 2022. In contrast, I have witnessed more calls for Brandon Streeter to be fired so far this season than anyone else on the staff.

The 2022 Clemson Football offense improved significantly over 2021, and Streeter deserves his share of the credit

I understand that sometimes offensive play calling was frustrating this season. I was frustrated at times too. I just don’t understand how someone could see the improvement on the offensive side and think that Streeter deserves to be dismissed as offensive coordinator. He oversaw a significant improvement in his first year at the helm.

Maybe the offense didn’t get to where fans wanted it to be, but was it realistic to expect that an offense that was ranked 85th or higher in most major categories would suddenly become Top 10 in all those categories just a year later?

If before the season started I said that the Clemson offense would improve by at least 40 ranking spots in all those categories and be Top 10 in 3rd down conversion rate while DJ Uiagalelei played the vast majority of snaps at quarterback, I think the majority of fans would have thought Streeter did a hell of a job.