Be careful what you wish for. When Clemson moved on from its former offensive coordinator Garrett Riley after last season, it was only a matter of time before he was going to bounce back in a big way. Two games into his role as the Missouri Tigers' quarterbacks coach, he and Ole Miss transfer Austin Simmons are thriving on Eliah Drinkwitz's team. Missouri crushed its arch rival Kansas on Friday night.
Under Drinkwitz and Riley's guidance, Simmons completed 19-of-29 passes for 292 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. Lance Leipold's Jayhawks were no match in this ballgame due in part to Missouri's high-octane offense. While Missouri exits Week 2 with a 2-0 record after a strong 38-21 victory over its most hated opponent, Clemson fans must be wondering if the Tigers made a big mistake.
As Simmons looked sensational with Riley in his ear, we all have to wonder if Clemson will get out of the mud offensively under Chad Morris here soon. Dabo Swinney brought back his former offensive coordinator after 12 years away from the program. The hope was that Morris would bring a strong running game with him Riley never did. Now, we have Clemson fans second-guessing the re-hiring.
Garrett Riley, who’s getting big monthly checks from Clemson as he coaches a
— Larry Williams (@LarryWilliamsTI) September 12, 2026
QB who looked sensational last night: pic.twitter.com/h0qJ4qAXYi
Chad Morris must prove moving on from Garrett Riley wasn't a mistake
If we were to dive deeper into the Missouri-Kansas box score from Week 2, two stats jump off the page. The first was the Missouri offense only attempted 30 passes on the evening. With Simmons averaging 10.1 yards per attempt, the Tigers were moving the ball both effectively and efficiently. The other is about the ground game. Riley made it a point to give Missouri tailbacks the football 41 times.
This is the amount of carries Morris hopes to run every game. Although last week's game got out of hand quickly against LSU, Clemson only had 26 carries for 40 yards and a garbage time touchdown. It is like something else is at play here for Clemson struggling to run the football so much. Yes, Kansas is circling the drain under Leipold, but Mizzou was still able to get the ground game going right away.
Simply put, the better the Missouri offense looks this year, the worse Clemson fans may feel about the move, especially if Morris proves to be a shot fighter as a play-caller. In truth, he is still trying to figure out how to feature all these players he inherited on offense. We can only hope that the Tigers put forth a strong, committed game plan to get past Georgia Southern on Saturday night with ease.
Missouri may be a Top-25 team in the country, but the gap between both of these Tigers teams was not thought to be that wide at the start of the year. With Missouri being a lock to stay in the Top 25 and potentially move up from No. 23, all Clemson can do is put its best foot forward vs. the Eagles and hope a blowout victory over Georgia Southern could get them any of the 112 AP votes they lost.
Right now, the pressure is on Morris to give the Tigers any sort of identity on offense moving forward.
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