Clemson's offensive struggles come down to coaching, Swinney says, but no staff changes planned

Oct. 27—CLEMSON — Something’s got to give. Or does it?

There are a mountain of stats to describe how poor Clemson’s offensive production has been through a 4-3 (2-2 ACC) start in 2026. The Tigers possess the 112th total offense and 111th scoring offense in Division I FBS, and are currently the only offense being outscored by their team’s own defense and special teams. Clemson’s run game is doing OK, though — 150.6 yards per game and 10 touchdowns are enough to be in the median nationally.

No, it’s the passing offense that has produced the bulk of shocking numbers for Clemson and new-ish coordinator Chad Morris this year.

The Tigers are last in the FBS with two passing touchdowns. Three of the five bottom-ranked teams (Air Force, Army and Rice) are also in the bottom five for passing attempts. Clemson has attempted 219 passes this season, ranked 70th.

Each figure represents a passing attack that’s been wholly unproductive this season, and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said after a 20-16 loss to Virginia Tech on Oct. 24 — where Clemson had one touchdown on the ground — that lack of production comes down to missed opportunities, and those come down to coaching.

“I just don’t think we helped them enough to win the game with some decisions, play calls. We didn’t help them,” he said. “These kids played their butts off. They competed tails off, and yeah, they made some mistakes. But I didn’t think we did enough to help them.”

Swinney also said in his postgame press conference that multiple conversations would be had with Morris, who’s in his first season back as Clemson’s OC since 2014 and his first season calling plays in college since 2020 with Auburn.

However, Swinney said he doesn’t have plans to make changes to the offensive coaching staff at this time. He added at his Oct. 25 teleconference that he’s confident Morris will remain the team’s offensive play caller in 2026.

“Nobody works harder than Chad. He’s smart. He’s detailed. It just hasn’t come together,” he said.

It’s not the kind of question any coach wants to be fielding midway through a season, but it’s not outlandish. Oregon fired its OC on Monday. Since 2020, Swinney has cycled through four OCs. He let go of Brandon Streeter in 2022 after just one season.

He also gave former defensive analyst and assistant linebackers coach Thomas Allen more responsibility with the team’s defensive backs in 2025 as the unit struggled. Allen was promoted to defensive passing game coordinator this season. The unit has been the team’s best, and Clemson has the 35th-ranked passing defense.

But neither taking Morris’ play calling duties nor shifting around assistants is in the cards for this year, Swinney said.

“It’s a different situation.”

There likely won’t be any key personnel changes on the field either. Swinney said he didn’t think about swapping in senior QB and one-game starter Christopher Vizzina for freshman Tait Reynolds. He stood by Clemson receiver T.J. Moore after the wideout struggled with drops against Charleston Southern.

Something’s got to give, yes, but Swinney doesn’t plan for the coaching hierarchy to be that something. It doesn’t appear the depth chart will be either. So what will it be?

That remains a mystery.

“We’re kind of going through a little bit of transition, but we’ll work our way through it, and we’re gonna come out,” Swinney said.

“There’s gonna be there’s gonna be better days ahead. There’s no doubt about it for me.”

Next up

Next up

What: Clemson (4-3, 2-2 ACC) at Florida State (3-4, 1-3)

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

Where: Doak S. Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Fla.

TV: ACC Network

Reach Jackson Castellano at jcastellano@postandcourier.com. Follow him on X @jaxacastellano.