CLEMSON -- Cade Klubnik's first two pass attempts of 2023 went like this:

A wildly inaccurate vertical throw that hit a Duke safety in the chest;

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An airmail of Cole Turner on a routine horizontal throw.

This is what we thought of early in the season when irate fans claimed hotshot coordinator Garrett Riley was running an offense that looked nothing like the offense he had at TCU -- implication being that Dabo Swinney was imposing his X-and-O doctrine and not allowing Riley to call what he wanted.

The bottom line to us then, and now: It's hard for an offensive coordinator to be aggressive when his quarterback is that erratic from the jump.

For much of the season, it made sense for Riley to be more conservative than he prefers because on the other side of the ball stood a defense that controlled games and was often dominant.