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MVP [539]
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Game Changer [1622]
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Re: Riley
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Oct 23, 2025, 5:12 PM
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Riley running the Clemson Offense is a disgrace by Dabo!
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MVP [539]
TigerPulse: 99%
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Re: Riley
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Oct 23, 2025, 5:18 PM
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But I thought it was supposed to be "Dirt Raid" offense. We barely run the ball. I know it is probably due to our interior OL can't block but I would figure out the line to block inside.
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Game Changer [1622]
TigerPulse: 87%
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Re: Riley
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Oct 23, 2025, 5:34 PM
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He's not running his offense he's running the Clemson Offense!
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Paw Warrior [4999]
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Re: Riley
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Oct 24, 2025, 9:04 AM
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Riley is an 'Air Raid' offense guy. Dabo said 'I'll hire you, but you have to play a run first offense'. Riley said ok to that and that is how we got a 'dirt raid' offense. But during the game Riley sees that the run first isn't working and naturally abandons it since he doesn't want to run it in the first place. Riley just doesn't fit with what Dabo is wanting. I don't know why he hired him in the first place, to be honest.
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Legend [6743]
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If Riley is fired and goes to coach somewhere else
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Oct 23, 2025, 5:24 PM
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and is successful. We will have our answer to where the problems on offense are.
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Orange Elite [5214]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Think the issue boils down to
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Oct 23, 2025, 5:51 PM
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Dabo had success in past bringing in coordinators from outside & plugging them in w/ the existing staff (when hiring Morris as OC & Venables as DC). I think he figure it worked for him once, it would work again. However, this time there's been flaws.
Riley hasn't worked out so far but how much is it his fault, how much is being stuck w/ position coaches he didn't have say in, & how much is it trying to run what Dabo wants vs what Riley wants. The offseason will definitely tell us alot...if Riley is let go & everyone else on offensive staff remains, then don't expect any changes between this year & next, regardless of OC. If Riley remains & we see position coaches go, then I think 2026 is essential saying "this is your last chance" to Riley (if he even wants to be here anymore at this point). If Riley & multiple offensive coaches are gone, then it's a true cleansing of the temple on that side by Dabo.
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Campus Hero [13396]
TigerPulse: 94%
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Re: Riley
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Oct 23, 2025, 6:06 PM
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Our OL is better suited, from the perspective of ability of our O-linemen, to run. Pass protecting, for the OL as an overall unit, is not now nor has it been starting in 2023, their strength.
Blake Miller has been a good run blocker. As a pass blocker, he is serviceable at best.
Walker Parks has obviously declined in his ability overall, but especially in pass protection (which was his original strength), due to what I suspect is a never-to-be-restored-to-full-strength ankle problem. He’s got a broken ‘part’ and will power cannot make that up. Consequently, his former strength (psss blocking) has evaporated.
Linthicum has been good enough; he’s not the reason for our bad pass blocking. Or bad run blocking. (He’s OK, but not great at either.)
Sewell unfortunately has never been much of a pass blocker; his run blocking success depends upon the opposing defense having poor DL talent. At least, if we have to depend on Sewell (which we often do), we use him better as a run blocker than as a pass blocker.
Sadler, I don’t know what to think. Maybe his previous years’ injuries have done to him what injuries have done to Walker Parks. Regardless, he has not been good at either run blocking or pass blocking.
Tristan Leigh has become serviceable at both run blocking and pass protection, but has never truly excelled at either.
Elijah Thurman, IMO, is our most talented O-lineman. Unfortunately, he’s been riddled with injury problems.
Brayden Jacobs looks fantastic, but he hasn’t played against top shelf DLs yet.
As for G.Riley and ‘no run game,’ our OL is better overall at run blocking than pass blocking. Whether Riley or Dabo loses confidence in the run game at the first sign of struggling, I don’t know. I know what the rest of us do; we gold the ‘run tent’ quickly when we fail to convert a 3rd down via a run play, and hardly ever return to it as a tactic to convert future 3rd downs for the rest of a game that is close. This despite our OL being better suited to run than pass.
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Valley Legend [12192]
TigerPulse: 64%
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Re: Riley
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Oct 23, 2025, 6:52 PM
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What I don't see in any of these posts is a reference to the talent level we have had the last 3-4 years compared to what we had in the Playoff and Championship years. All everyone wants to talk about is how bad the coaches are but the story it is not about us having bad coaches but about how our recruiting has dropped off. It is a whole lot easier to coach guys with talent who can make plays because of their talent than it is to try to win with less talented guys.
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Campus Hero [13396]
TigerPulse: 94%
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Re: Riley
Oct 24, 2025, 6:47 AM
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True, no doubt, that recruiting has deteriorated since the glory years.
Since the linked article was about the coaching aspect T of our assistant coaches, it seemed appropriate to compare last year’s talent vs this year’s talent, with our OL performance being a key factor in the decline of our offense.
To be sure, the graduation of 2024 LG Marcus Tate deprived us, IMO, of our single best O-lineman for the 2025 season. Yet, M.Tate only played 8 games due to injury; Clemson FB played 14 games in 2024.
Even considering M.Tate’s absense in 2025, our overall OL play has declined, and this deserves much blame for our overall struggles on offense this year. Except for M.Tate, all of our OL’s main players from 2024 are playing in 2025. Yet, OL unit has performed poorly … especially in pass protection.
Players are ~ the same. Yet, for whatever reason, our pass blocking has been noticeably worse this season than last. This factor seems lost in our offensive coaches, who quickly panic after an early-game failure to convert a 3rd down via the run and largely abandon running plays for the remainder of the game. Thus, the opposing defenses then tee off on our poor pass blocking OL, leading to QB’s who haven’t been coached well enough to deal with the blitz.
G.Riley runs the offense. If there is one thing that the article asserted in contrast to what many TNetter’s insist on believing, G.Riley … not Dabo … calls the plays. 2025’s offensive failures, relativeness to 2024 season in which our personnel was the same, lies primarily with G.Riley.
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Recruit [61]
TigerPulse: 54%
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Re: Riley
Oct 24, 2025, 9:25 AM
[ in reply to Re: Riley ] |
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What I don't see in any of these posts is a reference to the talent level we have had the last 3-4 years compared to what we had in the Playoff and Championship years. All everyone wants to talk about is how bad the coaches are but the story it is not about us having bad coaches but about how our recruiting has dropped off. It is a whole lot easier to coach guys with talent who can make plays because of their talent than it is to try to win with less talented guys.
South Carolina has four and five star recruits all along their offensive line and they stink worse than Clemson‘s offensive line. Coaching matters!
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TigerNet HOFer [124243]
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Thanks. Zach graduated Clemson & has been around the program a long time.
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Oct 23, 2025, 6:43 PM
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Which to me makes the piece queer, as there's been a lot of success under the same circumstance.
Sonny Dykes worked with Lincoln Riley and had met Garrett prior. Sonny hired GR from App.St. where Garrett coached RBs. Word on the street had GR set to step into the OC position at App.St. in 2020, until Sonny called.
Garrett replaced Rhett Lashlee, the remaining on-field O staff remained the same meaning Garrett brought none with him, hired none after his move in 2020.
AJ Ricker
Chris Brasfield
David Gru
Josh Martin
At minimum, Garrett had just made the same transition he would make to Clemson. If Garrett felt uncomfortable or had issue, no would have been a perfectly good answer.
Brent Venables brought no one with him, hired no one in his time at Clemson. He was of course part of the check off process when Reed replaced Harbison, Bates, then Bates & Hall replaced Big Dan Brooks & Marion Hobby. Somehow, BV managed to make it all work, including the addition of Coach Conn.
theChad had done the same; people are still calling for him to make a return. He hired no one.
Something appears rotten in the State of Denmark for sure, but there's plenty of prior good, including Riley's first OC job at SMU, to suggest the practice he chose, not once, but twice as an OC, might not be the issue.
Sometimes things just don't work out. I'm sorry, I wanted GR to succeed. Maybe it's as simple as GR and Coach Dykes believed he was ready to step away and he wasn't?
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Athletic Dir [1173]
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A lot of folks questioned whether that TCU
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Oct 23, 2025, 8:17 PM
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offense was Dykes or Riley. I had no idea Lashlee preceded Riley.
Dykes and Lashlee both have proven they can run a high level offense. Makes me wonder if Riley just got put in a really good spot.
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CU Medallion [19059]
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Re: Riley
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Oct 23, 2025, 7:06 PM
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Dabo made it clear in Riley's first game against against Duke in 23 that they were running the "Clemson" offense. He said it loud and clear in the ESPN pregame interview from the field at Duke.
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Fan [38]
TigerPulse: 71%
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Re: Riley
Oct 24, 2025, 9:29 AM
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If he's fired I think you go after Kendal Bryles and stay out of his way and let him do his thing.
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Hall of Famer [8591]
TigerPulse: 100%
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watching Eric Maclain's break down of the OL play last week, I thought our OL
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Oct 24, 2025, 9:34 AM
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moved like todlers. Straight legged and slow and the worst was unsure of themselves. Number 9 or (6?) from SMU looked like Warren Sapp out there throwing them around.
On the flipside watching a guy like Joe Alt from the Chargers last night was like something foreign compared to that Clemson tape. Athletic and a bully that moved well and road graded. Now I understand he's one of the best to do it but go watch that and then watch Eric Maclain's breakdown. Its rough.
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