Clemson Football: Bold predictions for the 2023 offense

What’s a new Clemson Football season without some bold predictions? Let’s look at some possibilities for the offense.

Clemson will rank in the Top 25 in total yards per game in 2023

Per teamrankings.com, the Tigers averaged 348.7 yards per game in 2021, which was 98th in the FBS (against FBS competition only).

In 2022, the Tigers averaged 412.9 yards per game, which was ranked 41st in the FBS. That is an improvement of 64.2 yards per game over the season before.

If the Tigers were to improve by the same margin in 2023, and average 477.1 yards per game, that will likely put them close to the Top 10 based on what we have seen from the FBS in the last couple of years.

Top 10 is ambitious, considering there are still questions about the Clemson offense’s personnel. Then again, if Garrett Riley and his system are as advertised, and he brings out the best in Cade Klubnik, it’s not crazy at all to think that the Tigers could have a Top 25 offense.

Clemson Football should expect improvement with Garrett Riley taking charge of the offense

Clemson will have two 1,000-yard rushers this season

In an homage to Freezing Cold Takes, I might have predicted this one before, and been wrong. As I recall, my prediction was that both Will Shipley and Kobe Pace would eclipse the 1K mark in 2022. Alas, good ol’ Brandon Streeter didn’t rely on the ground game as much as I expected, and Pace would be injured.

To rub salt in my own wounds, I openly questioned if Phil Mafah could find enough playing time to take a step forward in 2022. Another swing and miss.

To play devil’s advocate to my prediction, one very valid concern is if there will be enough opportunities for both Shipley and Mafah to get 1,000 yards in Riley’s offense. I could easily see both getting passing targets out of the backfield. Maybe two backs with 1,000 all-purpose yards would make more sense.

On the other hand, Shipley got to 1,000 yards last season when fans were ripping their hair out because Streeter wasn’t feeding him the ball. It is a very valid concern that there might just not be enough carries to get Mafah there too. Then again, they don’t call them bold predictions for no reason.