What Are Clemson Football's 2023 Expectations?

Clemson football's offensive coordinator Garrett Riley was surprised by the team who presented to him the Broyles award trophy that he was awarded after he led tcu's offense in 2022 to an extremely successful campaign the Texas Christian Horned Frogs went 13-2 played for a national championship and the offense was the reason for that Max Duggan Keandre Miller Quentin Johnson many different faces on that offense that Garrett Riley coached and developed a lot of them of course were remaining Hardware remaining players from Gary Patterson and the previous regime at TCU but Garrett Riley was a part of Sony Dyke's staff that brought TCU from a program that failed to achieve a Bowl appearance in 2021 to a team that won a semi-final game in the college football playoff against the Michigan Wolverines who were a top three top two team last year in college football and they played for a national championship and played for a big 12 Championship they split against Kansas State beating them in the regular season losing in the Big 12 championship game I just I added that just for context for Garrett Riley and why he won the Royals award to remind everyone because when your team loses 7 to 65 in the national title people can very quickly forget everything else you achieved and wrongfully so that was a mismatch from the beginning and TCU used all of their strength and they used the Mulligan against Michigan they had they had nothing against Georgia nothing and no one probably would have beaten Georgia that night but to get to the point of this video talking about Garrett Riley and more specifically Clemson football and seeing Garrett Riley be presented with the Royals award trophy by his team got me thinking a few things it really got me thinking because Clemson football has underachieved according to Modern Clemson Dabo Swinney standards over the past two seasons 2021 Clemson and 2022 Clemson were a laughing stock for different reasons 2022 Clemson was constantly placed inside of the top four top five top six throughout the year and when you watched them play you knew that they probably weren't even a top 10 team they were that bad despite being undefeated and by that bad I don't mean a bad football team I mean bad for their ranking bad for their undefeated records so on so forth I mean you watch that game versus Syracuse and that game casted doubt on the ACC in its whole make no mistake about it Clemson's best win of this past season was that Florida State game where they dominated a Florida State team that ended up going 10 and 3. was their best game on the other hand 2021 Clemson was a joke because of how the season started and just because of the massive failure and expectations all around they very early were out of the playoff picture losing to Georgia early in the year and then of course losing to North Carolina State and Devin Leary 2021 Devin Leary on September 25th so Clemson was already out of the playoff picture in 2021 by September it took a little longer in 2022 the offense slightly improved in 2022 but that was that was sort of evened out by the defense because of Brent Venable's departure and some key players leaving after 2021 the defense took a step back as well so Clemson has underperformed make no mistake about it over the past two seasons and what I want to talk about is if they can get back and by get back I mean get back to the playoff and get back to winning the ACC in impressive fashion not beating a worn down washed Mac Brown LED North Carolina team in the ACC title I mean dominating the the regular season dominating the ACC Championship game and finishing in the top ten can they at least get there and then beyond that of course what Clemson and Dabo Swinney in the fan base Swan ultimately is to get back to the National Championship get back to winning and competing for national championships that's the goal here and we didn't know if Clemson was even going to be capable of reaching the playoff because seeing how Dabo Swinney likes to promote from within it was just Brandon streeter's first year as offensive coordinator no one really knew if the change was going to be made and Brandon Streeter had been with the program for a while heavily involved with recruiting coach Trevor Lawrence was the offensive coordinator obviously in 2022 was the passing game coordinator prior to that very integral to the Clemson team he was canned after one year as offensive coordinator not even demoted just straight up canned and Garrett Riley was brought in Garrett Riley being brought in to replace him as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Clemson and now here we are Dabo made the staff change that everyone wanted him to make he upgraded the staff recruiting while not being at the level of Alabama in Georgia has still been great and now we get to see Clemson again in 2023 and will they meet the expectation will they underperform will they over perform and over performing if you're cleansing with the reputation that you've had you might think is kind of hard but I think for the first time in a while there's a very realistic chance that Clemson could start this season ranked outside of the top 10. in many way too early top 25s many winter top 25s many some people are releasing spring top 25s before the spring games have concluded which I'm gonna only release a spring top 25 after all the spring games are over but that's just me a lot of those polls and a lot of the analysts writing them and even just a lot of fans whether knowledgeable or casuals have Clemson outside of the top ten and almost no one that I know of or that I have read has Clemson inside the top four top five top six they're viewed now they're no longer viewed as king of the hill or even at the ice peak of the mountain or the volcano that is the college football playoff they're close they're well respected but the 10-3 campaign of 2021 and the 11-3 campaign of 2022 which had such a sour ending losing to Tennessee losing to South Carolina losing to Notre Dame I mean Clemson entering that Notre Dame game was 8-0 and they went they went three and three yes they went three and three from their November to December games they went three and three after starting out 8-0 and they played their toughest opponents Notre Dame Tennessee South Carolina all of those teams finished ranked no other team they played finished ranked none all the ranked teams the teams that were ranked at the end of the season all the teams that were ranked at the end of the season that Clemson played they lost to and in 2021 Georgia was ranked at the end of the year that was their possibly their best game of the year Pitt was Georgia was NC State was now they did beat Wake Forest who was ranked at the end of the year I'll give them that but still one in three against teams that finished ranked at the end of the season in 2021 so can Clemson even beat teams that are all around good or do they just Feast on the above average average below average bad and awful teams that mostly plagued the ACC so can they beat a good team can they beat a great team and where it starts is mainly on offense it mainly starts with the side of the ball that Garrett Riley is commanding and Cade Club Nick Cade Club Nick and quarterback for Clemson is the biggest Boomer bust area for the entire team now biggest question mark I'd say those would be elsewhere this isn't like let's just make a comparison this isn't like Penn State where it looks like quarterback is probably going to be the position on the field with the least amount of depth and where you're having the least experience which means that Penn State's quarterback room and their quarterback Drew Aller that's their biggest question mark for the whole season Cade Club Nick has had more playing time as compared to Drew Aller and Clemson has bigger holes and a greater lack of depth in other areas on the team notably at wide receiver and offensive line Clemson actually similarly to the comparison in Penn State is strong at running back and strong on defense they lost they lost plenty and by plenty I don't mean like 10 players but they lost plenty of great players on their team Trenton Simpson at linebacker KJ Henry Ryan Breezy miles Murphy on the defensive line only four players four starters that they lost on defense but all of them very talented players in the four of them were amongst the better players on the Clemson defense Clemson lost three players to graduation or the NFL draft on offense Joseph and Gada Jordan McFadden Davis Allen they did lose DJ uiangular obviously to Oregon State which I think is a match made in heaven I think Jonathan Smith will do wonders with DJ UE youngale who unfortunately was more of a product of Brandon Streeter than Dabo Swinney Brandon Streeter make no mistake about it ruined DJ oyangulele and maybe DJ wasn't the five-star four-star talent that everyone thought he was but I still think he has that potential and I think that he will improve probably by quite a bit in Jonathan Smith's system at Oregon State if indeed he does start which I think is very likely but I think you get an upgrade in Cade Club Nick there's a very good chance that quarterback could become a strength of this team alongside of running back and on defense very good chance of that Garrett Riley obviously coached Max Duggan Max Duggan went to New York as a Heisman Trophy candidate and at the time before he played in the playoff I thought that he should have won it and then I watched Caleb Williams carry carry USC on his back and still lose in what was an impressive performance against Tulane and I watched Max Duggan while he did above average against Michigan he did absolutely horribly against Georgia part of that's on his Supporting Cast and against Michigan he didn't even complete 50 of his passes and he did make some critical mistakes in that game as did his opposing counterpart in the Fiesta Bowl JJ McCarthy Kade klubnick going back to him through for 697 yards in 2022 two touchdowns three interceptions he had a 57.1 qbr he had a 120.1 passer rating got sacked six times completed 61 percent of his passes he also had 139 rushing yards on the ground averaged 3.3 yards per carry and he had two rushing touchdowns his long Rush was of 16. his best game by a mile was against UNC where he went 20 of 24 for 279 yards a touchdown 30 yards rushing with another touchdown there he had a 194.7 rating and a 94.5 qbr but North Carolina had no defense and against a Tennessee team that look let's face it Tennessee doesn't have a great defense either they had one of the worst secondaries if not possibly the worst secondary in college football just look what Spencer Rattler did to them kid Club Nick went 30 of 54. for 320 yards completed 55.6 percent of his passes no touchdown passes two interceptions he hit a 97.9 passer rating and a 49.1 qbr he had 51 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown there they waited too long to put Cade Club Nick in the place of DJ uyongolale and there is an argument to be had that if they did put him in instead of uyungalale earlier in the year maybe Clemson could have reached the playoff or maybe they could have gotten an extra win or so but the team and this is where I want to get to another point of mine before we talk about the questions that I have listed and why I have that opinion the Tiger's depth is questionable because they don't use the portal meanwhile the portal has made it so that more Clemson players are leaving now more than ever and no one's filling the holes the only incoming transfer for Clemson is graduate transfer Paul Tyson who is like the third stringer at Alabama and only played there because he was related to Bear Bryant then he transferred to Arizona State and did little there he's probably transferring to Clemson so he can get into coaching and become a graduate assistant there is probably what Paul Tyson is doing and that's why he's transferring into Clemson and also because I from what I know they're a pretty decent if not good great Academic School but here we are here we are and if Kade Club Nick started for the entirety of 2022 let's say Clemson makes the playoff instead of Ohio State instead of an entertaining Peach Bowl a very entertaining Peach Bowl where you didn't know who was going to win until Noah Ruggles missed the field goal you didn't know who the Victor was until the last like two seconds of the game Georgia would have destroyed Clemson by like 20 to 30 points if not potentially more because Clemson let's be honest here they have great starters they have starters that I think if they're developed right could match up with anyone in the nation as sg1 Sports put it in his video of teams who he thinks can win the college football playoff but outside of their starters they have no depth no depth whatsoever they Pro they have the most depth it would be them or Florida State who have the most depth in the ACC but you put Clemson in the Big Ten or the SEC they'd probably be fourth dare I say it maybe even fifth in terms of Team depth they do not have they don't have any stacked rooms or stacked cores of any kind outside of maybe running back because of will shiftly because not shift Lee even though whatever will Shipley film Offa That would be probably the most stacked room in the entire Clemson Tigers football program in my opinion two great running backs will Shipley being someone who is a five star at a high school could be a Heisman Trophy candidate especially if the offensive line who returns a lot of its production if they can improve but the wide receiver core plenty of questions around there Beau Collins Antonio Williams Adam Randall I look at them in that wide receiver room there's no one who's going to step up and if there is it's very unlikely and the offensive line has historically from a recruiting standpoint and a developmental standpoint been one of Clemson's weaknesses as compared to let's say quarterback which has historically been one of their strengths in the Dabo Swinney era so that's just some of the background in my opinion where they're strong at where they're weak at I have Clemson uh this is actually a sneak preview of my spring top 25 though it is subject to change until all the spring games were concluded so this might change Clemson I currently have his 15th in my current spring top 25 again subject to change and when it comes to team potential I think that Clemson is just outside the top ten I have them inside the top 15 for Total Team Talent so they're a top 15 team I think that that's pretty clear their top 15 the worst they could be I think is top 25 with you know maybe they go ten and three again like they did in 2021 the best they could be and this is where we get into expectations they could win the national title it's very unlikely but I think it can be done mainly because of coaching because Dabo Swinney has been there before he's beat Nick Saban twice 1-2 national titles and Garrett Riley brought according to 24 7 sports team Talent Composite Index outside of Cincinnati they brought the least talented team in the college football playoff to the National Championship Michigan State Cincinnati team those are teams that are relatively of similar comparable talent to 2022 TCU got destroyed in their semi-final games and TCU won theirs so they have great coaches they have high achieving coaches and they are recruiting at a high level they're recruiting consistently top 15 top 10 classes they even had a top five Class A few years ago but what should Clemson's expectations be I think it's pretty simple just because you've underachieved for the past two seasons does not mean that is the new Norm if that's the case then Ohio State fans should no longer expect to beat Michigan or to reach the national championship or play for a Big Ten Championship which would be asinine with a capital a the expectations should be an ACC title and a college football playoff berth which probably not probably that would at minimum mean that Clemson has a 12-2 record with a championship which would be an improvement the minimum expectation should be an improvement record-wise and post-season appearance or achievement wise compared to 2022 which would be a 12-2 record and appearing in the college football playoff in losing that'd be the minimum expectation and maybe that'd be 13-1 if they can go undefeated in the regular season but they haven't they have a game against Notre Dame at home a game against North Carolina at home and the ACC while very weak Clemson if you put them in the Big Ten or the SEC or heck dare I say it even the Pac-12 I don't think they would be the number one or even number two team the acc's that week and Clemson by comparison of top 10 teams I think is a it's pretty weak in comparison to a lot of them maybe there's yelling and screaming in response to that but look one in six against teams that finished in the final polls of the 2021 and 2022 season the expectations shouldn't change but the perception of the program maybe should though Garrett Riley being brought in kind of rebuilt my perception of the Clemson program I thought that this team wouldn't even be a top 20 team if Brandon Streeter wasn't fired Brandon Street are being fired and Garrett Riley being brought in bumps this team up several spots in a power index in a Top 25 Poll and it gives them a shot to win the national title if you have Brandon Streeter is your offensive coordinator with this team nothing else changes I don't even think you're reaching the college football playoff you won't but with Garrett Riley that's a game changer that's an absolute game changer Clemson because of Garrett Riley automatically I think has one of the best offensive staffs in the country that's not only shows how important your coordinator is to that whole side of the football but it also shows how good of a coordinator that Garrett Riley is I don't think that this team will win the national title in fact as you can probably tell with where I have them ranked in my when I view things by Talent pure talent versus when I view things by their record strength of record I don't have Clemson reaching the national championship game I don't even have them reaching the college football playoff in fact depending on if they win the ACC or not which I haven't even decided yet in fact I'm kind of leaning toward Florida State but because again it's you still have time it is the spring it's not the fall yet don't have to have everything figured out I'd rather have my pre-season predictions figured out later but have a lot of evidence behind them a lot of research and a likelihood that they'll be proven correct then release the earliest opinions and have them all be wrong but that's just me I think that Clemson will play in the ACC Championship game they will be at minimum what they were last year in the sense of how good they are overall I think offensive Improvement is a guarantee the biggest question of course is defense Brent venables will now have been gone for two years we'll see what Wes Goodwin and Mickey Khan are truly made of and losing the four people on the defense especially Brian breesey and other players on the defensive side of the ball that front seven is going to be tested it will and with their weak with their weak schedule they don't have any tough non-conference opponents outside of Notre Dame and that's a home game and they have a really easy and favorable ACC schedule Clemson if they lose one regular season game assuming they start outside of the top 10 in both polls that might be all it takes to knock them out of the playoff conversation because if you have a week's strength of schedule and you don't start high in the polls and we all know how that goes we all know how that goes especially if the loss is later in the year to let's say Notre Dame again or they get upset at home by North Carolina or even on the road against South Carolina so we'll see but those are the expectations for Clemson I think as they should be this team has a lot of potential believe me they are one of the 10 teams that I think can win a National Championship that being along with Texas Wisconsin Penn State Washington Utah Alabama Georgia Ohio State and Michigan Clemson is among those teams those are the 10 teams including Clemson who I think have more than a hairs of a chance to win the national championship so they're among that category when it comes to their ceiling and potential make sure to watch the next video that's on the recommended page comment your thoughts down below subscribe to the channel whether you're a Clemson fan or not this is one of the most unbiased channels that you can find when it comes to college football like this video hit the notification Bell so you can get notified when I post new content and thank you for watching and engaging see you 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