Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK The Dark Territory is fully upon us and the anxious anticipation of the upcoming football season is setting in. Whenever someone asks me about how I feel about this upcoming Clemson football season, I just say, If the offense can take a step, this team can really contend." Of course, I've been feeling that way for three years running as Clemson's defenses have largely been strong, particularly in 2021 and 2023, but the offense has consistently lagged behind and, most importantly, rarely been able to win the inevitable game or two when the other team is scoring over 24 points. This is modern college football and no matter how good your defense is, there is bound to be a game or two where your offense has to step up and be able to win a shootout of sorts. Clemson had this ability for sure with its BCS bowl and playoff teams. 2017 might have been a slight exception, but even that team produced offense beyond what the last three Clemson teams have done. Recently I thought back to the offensive renaissance that occurred in 2011 when Chad Morris came to town and installed his HUNH system around quarterback Tajh Boyd. Boyd had shown some flashes in his limited duty in 2010, but there was nothing at that time to indicate he could be the answer that he really ended up being. Scheme was important for sure, but even more important was the infusion of explosive talent to go with returning skill players Andre Ellington, Nuk Hopkins, Dwayne Allen, and Jaron Brown. After sputtering a bit for a half against Troy in game one, the offense began to explode with the electric Sammy Watkins becoming the perfect piece to complement Allen and Hopkins. Clemson also had Charone Peake, Adam Humphries, and Martavis Bryant who would all add big play moments and potential that first year as well. The Jimmys and Joes" were at least 65-70% of what allowed Clemson to flip the script on offense that season. https://www.arizonastatesportsshop.com  Morris's ability to put that talent to use made up the other 30-35% of the equation. Clemson's 2010 offense averaged 334.5 yards per game and just 24 points per game. The most explosive player on that team, Ellington, was lost to injury for the back half of the season. Hopkins began to emerge as the season went on, but he wasn't enough by himself to offset the personnel deficiencies that existed. It didn't help matters that Dabo Swinney and then-OC Billy Napier began butting heads on offensive strategy. The low that season had to be when South Carolina's strong 2010 defense came to Death Valley and after surrendering a big play score to Hopkins early on completely dominated the Tigers offense the rest of that night. Swinney dismissed Napier and hired Morris to reinvent the Tiger's attack around a stellar offensive recruiting class. Swinney removed himself from play signaling and gave the reigns to Morris, whose system blossomed during the game with defending National Champion Auburn, sparking a remarkable 3 week run of huge victories against Auburn, Florida State, and Virginia Tech. Though that team struggled to finish well, they did provide an incredible performance in the ACC Championship game and took Clemson to its first major bowl in 20 years. The 2011 offense averaged 440.8 yards per game and 33.6 points. Garrett Riley came in last season and the hope was his system would provide a similar jump in production for Clemson's offense. While in some ways it was better, it largely failed to really be much different than the previous year. Clemson's run game came alive during the second half of the 2021 season to help that team avoid a totally disastrous season and remained the strength of the offense through 2022 and 2023. However, the Clemson passing game continued to lag way behind the explosive numbers enjoyed from 2011 through 2020. Clemson lost the ability to get the cheap" touchdown or huge chunk play. Misses in WR recruiting and injuries combined to hamstring both Brandon Streeter and Riley as they called plays. I can see some parallels between the 2010 to 2011 season and 2023 to 2024.