Reuniting with offensive coordinator Chad Morris, Dabo Swinney must revitalize a stagnant rushing attack to transform Clemson from mediocre underachievers back into dominant conference champions.
The Clemson Tigers are looking to return to what used to be an annual marker for the team: ACC contender.
The Tigers made an amazing run late in the 2024 season to win the ACC championship over SMU.
Clemson appeared ready to take the next step in the College Football Playoff last year with quarterback Cade Klubnik returning, but the Tigers finished just 7-6 despite having a roster that sent nine kids to the draft in the first five rounds.
The tigers have questions about how good the quarterback position will be with Christopher Vizzina. With a solid defense being boosted from the transfer portal, Josh Pate argued that Swinney and new offensive coordinator Chad Morris could return to glory in the ACC if they fix the running game.
"They won double digit games every year that Morris was there as offensive coordinator the time before," Pate said on his show Sunday. "And if they figure out how to run the ball again, it's not out of the realm of possibility. The ACC is still very much in a state of flux.
"They were 105th running the ball last year. Abysmal. Dabo on our show the other day, paraphrasing, but he said, 'It's a miracle we won seven games. It's a miracle we even won seven.'”
Pare believes Clemson has enough talent to be competitive in the conference, though there are some questions on the offensive line.
“The wide receiver room is still good there," Pate said. "So it's not like Chad Morris is walking in saying, wow, look at these bare cupboards. No, you're going to have a new quarterback starting for you.
"Some offensive line transition, but you got guys to throw it to. You should be plenty good enough. Should be plenty good enough.”
The talent is good enough for a highly-paid head coach like Swinney to win games. He's the sixth-highest paid head coach in college football for a reason, and it's not to make excuses about NIL and the transfer portal.
Swinney took a chance on brining back Morris to ignite the offense. If the experiment fails, it's on the head coach.