Matt Luke points to a Garrett Riley midseason adjustment that paid off for Clemson

New Clemson offensive line coach Matt Luke took some time to praise Clemson offensive coordinator Garrett Riley's in-season adjustments.

To say Clemson underperformed offensively this season would be a pretty large understatement. Expectations were high with Cade Klubnik taking over as the starting quarterback and Garrett Riley taking over as offensive coordinator. Unfortunately, the Tigers never found an offensive identity and struggled mightily with turnovers and three-and-outs. 

Facing the real possibility of missing a bowl game, Riley made an adjustment to his playcalling, opting for a more power-run-oriented attack. The move paid off, with Clemson ripping off four wins to cap off the regular season and earn a spot in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. New offensive line coach Matt Luke pointed to those adjustments from Riley during a press conference earlier this week.

Clemson offensive coordinator Garrett Riley / David Platt - Clemson Athletics

"He's very, very innovative. They call him you know, they call him an "Air Raid" guy. But [what] he's done in the last four games, what he needed to do to win football games with running the ball. So that's impressed me is how he is kind of molded and changed to do what he needed to do to win football games. So I thought that was that was really good."

Riley's move to a ball-control offense paid off for Clemson with wins over Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, and North Carolina. With Luke now in charge of the line, Clemson fans have to be excited about a full year of those two working together.