What Garrett Riley’s big move means for Clemson, Dabo and TCU
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ESPN staff
After a second consecutive three-loss season, Dabo Swinney is remaking the Clemson program. Last year, the Tigers head coach promoted from within when former coordinators Brent Venables (Oklahoma) and Tony Elliott (Virginia) got head-coaching jobs.
But after firing offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter on Thursday, ESPN sources say Swinney will name TCU‘s Garrett Riley to the same position. It is a shake-up at a program known for continuity — Swinney hadn’t fired an assistant coach since 2011 before this move.
Riley is fresh off winning the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant while helping guide the Horned Frogs to the national title game in his first season in Fort Worth.
What kind of playcaller are the Tigers getting? What does it say about the state of Clemson? And what’s next for TCU? David M. Hale and Dave Wilson break it all down.
What prompted this move from Clemson?
It’s hard to say Streeter was to blame for Clemson’s offensive issues in 2022. The truth is, in his first year as coordinator, Streeter actually steered the offense to markedly better numbers than 2021. But Streeter was also largely a continuation of Clemson’s past. He may not have been responsible for the downturn, but it seemed clear he wasn’t going to steer things in a new — and needed — direction. Instead, Swinney appears to have found someone in Riley who can add some serious spice to an offense that was, from an X’s and O’s standpoint, pretty vanilla. Vanilla worked with Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson and a host of NFL backs and receivers. Without them, vanilla has just looked … bland.
But perhaps the other big issue here is QB Cade Klubnik. After the failed DJ Uiagalelei experience, Clemson cannot afford to see another blue-chip QB fall short of expectations. That Klubnik couldn’t win the job throughout the regular season despite Uiagalelei’s hiccups, and that his performance in the bowl game showed some serious freshman missteps, too, there has to be a thought that a change had to be made to ensure Klubnik’s talents aren’t wasted, and he can look more like Lawrence than Uiagalelei in 2023. Given Riley’s success turning a solid-if-unspectacular QB in Max Duggan into a Heisman finalist, this is a “no excuses” move for Klubnik, too. — Hale
What does this say about where Swinney thinks the program is?
It’s hard to know exactly what Swinney’s mindset is. He bristled at even the slightest criticisms last offseason when outsiders suggested his promotion of two in-house candidates to playcaller jobs — Streeter and Wes Goodwin — might’ve been too myopic. He spent nearly all of 2022 praising Uiagalelei, too, even lambasting the media for doubting the QB — then benched Uiagalelei three times during the season and admitted, after the ACC championship game, he’d been hoping Klubnik would take over for weeks. Now he’s finally backtracked on his insistence that Streeter was the right man for the OC job, and he’s gone out to land as big a fish as there is in the coordinator ranks. Perhaps the real takeaway here is Swinney has a formula he believes in, but he’s also smart enough to know when something isn’t working. What remains to be seen, however, is whether this is the last of the staff changes and, perhaps more importantly, if he shifts his perspective on the transfer portal to address some roster limitations, too. — Hale
What kind of coordinator is Clemson getting in Garrett Riley?
Riley, like his brother Lincoln, was a quarterback under Mike Leach at Texas Tech, then started his coaching career in modest fashion, as a QB coach at a West Texas high school, then at places like Augustana, East Carolina, Kansas and Appalachian State, where he was running backs coach. TCU coach Sonny Dykes believed he complemented his own passing philosophies with a detailed running game plan, so he elevated him to OC/QB coach and the primary playcaller at SMU. In his first season in 2020, with Shane Buechele at QB, the Mustangs averaged 38.6 points per game, 15th nationally. The next year, with Oklahoma transfer Tanner Mordecai at QB, the offense ranked 10th, led the AAC in passing and averaged 38.4 ppg. Then, in his first year at TCU, he helped turn Duggan, a four-year starter who had never thrown for more than 2,100 yards or 16 TDs in a season, into a Heisman runner-up who had 3,698 yards and 32 TDs. Riley is a patient playcaller who isn’t all flash, but instead blends a power running attack — Kendre Miller ran for more than 1,200 yards between the tackles this season — with a simplified Air Raid passing scheme to wear defenses down and pop big plays. Riley has already worked wonders in just three seasons as a coordinator. — Wilson
What is first order of business for Riley at Clemson?
Riley needs to evaluate everything. All five on-field offensive assistants, prior to Streeter’s firing, were without FBS coaching experience aside from their time at Clemson. Will Riley want to keep that staff intact? Clemson’s receiving corps has failed to develop young talent in recent years, and in each of the past two seasons, the offense has relied heavily on true freshmen. Might there be options in the portal to help add some veteran presence? Will Shipley is a budding star, but his usage under Streeter was always a bit odd. Riley will need to figure out how to maximize such a valuable weapon. The offensive line showed some flashes of improvement under first-year line coach Thomas Austin last season, but it also surrendered 26 pressures in the Capital One Orange Bowl against Tennessee. But again, no issue looms larger for Riley than turning Klubnik from the freshman with potential into another Heisman candidate. The fate of the Clemson offense will be as much about that relationship as any changes to the offensive scheme. — Hale
Where does TCU go from here?
Dykes has a vision for what he needs in a coordinator. In his first five years as a head coach, he had Tony Franklin, a longtime Air Raid assistant, running the offense. Since then, he’s mentored young coaches, like Jake Spavital at Cal and Rhett Lashlee at SMU, who both became head coaches. Despite Dykes’ own background as a playcaller, his assistants have freedom in game planning and playcalling, making the job an attractive one. In nine of the past 11 seasons, Dykes’ offenses have ranked no lower than 22nd, with three top-10 performances. He has a network of options as the Air Raid has proliferated across college football. This position is one he can manage with confidence. — Wilson
Penn State quarterback Drew Allar is set to play in Saturday’s key Big Ten matchup against No. 4 Ohio State.
Allar missed the second half of last week’s win over Wisconsin after suffering a left knee injury, but he was not listed on the injury report for the No. 3 Nittany Lions on Saturday morning.
Penn State coach James Franklin said earlier this week that Allar could be a game-time decision and that backup Beau Pribula would take snaps with Allar in practice.
Allar ranks 10th nationally with a QBR of 83.6. He has completed 71.3% of his passes for 1,640 yards and totaled 15 touchdowns with four interceptions.
Penn State starting defensive lineman Dani Dennis-Sutton will be a game-time decision, a source told ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Dennis-Sutton, who is listed as questionable, is expected to warm up and try to play.
Information from ESPN’s Jake Trotter was used in this report.
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Chris Low, ESPN Senior Writer
WEST POINT, N.Y. — Army star quarterback Bryson Daily will miss Saturday’s game against Air Force with an undisclosed injury/illness, Army officials told ESPN.
Daily leads the country with 19 rushing touchdowns and leads all FBS quarterbacks with 909 rushing yards. He was unable to practice this week. The No. 21 Black Knights had a bye last weekend after beating East Carolina 45-28 on Oct. 19 to win their seventh straight game this season.
In the win over ECU, Daily carried the ball 31 times for a career-high 171 yards and accounted for six touchdowns, five rushing and one passing. The 6-foot, 221-pound senior has already set Army single-season records for touchdowns responsible for (26) and rushing touchdowns (19) in seven games.
With Daily sidelined, junior Dewayne Coleman will fill in at quarterback and make his first career start. Daily, one of four team captains, has been Army’s starting quarterback over the past two seasons and the main cog in a Black Knights offense that has eclipsed 400 yards of total offense in all seven games this season.
Army (7-0, 6-0) travels to North Texas next week for an AAC contest. They get a bye week on Nov. 16 and then face Notre Dame on Nov. 23 at Yankee Stadium.
There’s no timetable at this point on how long Daily might be out of the lineup, but Army officials don’t think it’s a season-ending setback.
Army, off to its best start in nearly 30 years, will be one of the top contenders for the Group of 5’s spot in the College Football Playoff if the Black Knights can win the American Athletic Conference championship.
The 2024 World Series ended with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the championship in a stunning comeback in Game 5, with Walker Buehler the unlikely pitcher to close out the 7-6 win over the New York Yankees. First baseman Freddie Freeman was handed the World Series MVP award for his record-tying 12-RBI performance.
But that doesn’t tell the full story of everyone who played a starring role in October — a postseason that featured a record six grand slams, among other wildness. So, to honor the best of the entire postseason, we’ve created our first MLB All-October Team.
From wild-card-round sensations to World Series standouts, here are the players our ESPN MLB panel of experts voted as the best of the best at every position along with some award hardware for the brightest stars of October.
2024 All-October Team
Catcher: Kyle Higashioka, San Diego Padres
Why he’s here: To be honest, it wasn’t a great playoffs for catchers — they hit just .184/.254/.310. Higashioka is the one catcher who did hit, belting three home runs and driving in five runs in the seven games the Padres played.
Honorable mention: Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers
1B: Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers
Why he’s here: Freeman didn’t have an extra-base hit and drove in just one run in the first two rounds of the playoffs as he tried to play through the severely sprained ankle he suffered at the end of the regular season. He didn’t even play in two games of the NLCS and required hours of physical therapy before each game just to get on the field. But the five days off before the World Series clearly helped, and he homered in the first four games, including his dramatic walk-off grand slam in Game 1 that will go down as not only the signature World Series moment of 2024 — but a World Series moment for the ages.
Honorable mention: Pete Alonso, New York Mets
2B: Gleyber Torres, New York Yankees
Why he’s here: Torres had a solid October as he heads into free agency, although he had little competition here. Indeed, second basemen collectively hit just .219 with three home runs the entire playoffs — two of those from Torres — and drove in 24 runs, with Torres driving in eight himself. He had three multihit games and scored five runs in five games in the ALCS, while also taking walks to help set the table for Juan Soto.
Honorable mention: Brice Turang, Milwaukee Brewers
3B: Mark Vientos, New York Mets
Why he’s here: Max Muncy set a record when he reached base 17 times in the NLCS, including a single-postseason-record 12 times in a row, but he went hitless in the World Series. Vientos, meanwhile, had a stellar first trip to the postseason, hitting .327/.362/.636 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in 13 games. That followed a breakout regular season in which he posted an .837 OPS with 27 home runs in just 111 games. He looks like he’ll be a fixture in the middle of the Mets’ lineup for years to come.
Honorable mention: Muncy, Los Angeles Dodgers
SS: Tommy Edman, Los Angeles Dodgers
Why he’s here: Edman was an under-the-radar pickup at the trade deadline, in part because he was still injured and hadn’t yet played for the St. Louis Cardinals. Most of Edman’s starts came at shortstop, especially after Miguel Rojas was injured in the NLDS, but his bat got him here. Edman was the NLCS MVP after hitting .407 with a record-tying 11 RBIs in the series. He had started at cleanup just twice in his career but was slotted there twice against the Mets, driving in seven runs in those two games. Then he went 2-for-4 in each of the first two games of the World Series, including a home run in Game 2, and finished the Fall Classic hitting .294/.400/.588 with six runs.
Honorable mention: Francisco Lindor, New York Mets
OF: Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers
OF: Juan Soto, New York Yankees
OF: Enrique Hernandez, Los Angeles Dodgers
Why they’re here: Betts entered this postseason in a 3-for-38 postseason slump going back to the end of the 2021 NLCS — and it initially looked like it would be more of the same when he went 0-for-6 the first two games of the NLDS, including being robbed of a home run courtesy of Jurickson Profar. Everything turned in Game 3 when Profar almost robbed him of another home run — but didn’t. After that, Betts was in the middle of most of the Dodgers’ big rallies, hitting .321/.394/.625 with four home runs and 16 RBIs over the Dodgers’ final 14 playoff games.
Soto’s at-bats spoke for themselves: He never seemed to have a bad one. His big at-bat was the three-run home run in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the ALCS to send the Yankees to the World Series. Getting intentionally walked twice while batting in front of Aaron Judge speaks to Judge’s struggles, yes — but also to how locked in Soto was all postseason. He finished the postseason slashing .327/.469/.633 with 4 home runs, 9 RBIs and 14 walks in 14 games.
Hernandez actually began October on the bench, but we’ve seen him perform big in the postseason before, and he stepped up when Rojas was injured in the NLDS. Hernandez homered in the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory to close out the Padres in the NLDS, had a big two-run home run against the Mets in Game 3 of the NLCS and got the series-turning five-run rally against the Yankees in Game 5 started with a leadoff single in the fifth as well as the series-winning rally in the eighth with another leadoff base hit. Overall, he hit .294/.357/.451 with 11 runs and six RBIs.
Honorable mentions: Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians; Teoscar Hernandez, Los Angeles Dodgers; Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres
DH: Giancarlo Stanton, New York Yankees
Why he’s here: The Yankees were often a two-man show in the postseason, just like they were in the regular season — except it was Soto and Stanton, not Soto and Judge. Stanton blasted seven home runs in the playoffs, including in the final three games of the ALCS (earning MVP honors) and in Games 1 and 5 of the World Series. He finished the playoffs hitting .273/.339/.709, and those seven homers are the most in a single postseason in Yankees history.
Honorable mention: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers; David Fry, Cleveland Guardians
SP: Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees
SP: Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers
Why they’re here: Certainly, it seems as if the status of the starting pitcher in the postseason continues to decline — although, that doesn’t mean they’re not important. There were certainly some stellar individual outings along the way: Corbin Burnes allowed one run in eight innings (but lost 1-0) for the Baltimore Orioles; Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings (but that would be his only start); and the Padres’ Michael King fanned 12 to beat the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. Skubal had two scoreless starts against the Houston Astros in the wild-card series and Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS, confirming his status as one of the best in the game — or maybe the best, as his soon-to-be AL Cy Young Award will attest.
Cole was really the one consistent starter throughout the postseason, making five starts with a 2.17 ERA. Unfortunately, that ERA doesn’t register the five unearned runs from the final game of the World Series when the Yankees’ defense turned into a comedy of errors — including Cole himself opening up the floodgates by failing to cover first base to get what would have been the inning-ending out.
Honorable mention: Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers; Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers; Sean Manaea, New York Mets; Seth Lugo, Kansas City Royals
RP: Luke Weaver, New York Yankees
RP: Blake Treinen, Los Angeles Dodgers
Why they’re here: It also wasn’t the best of postseasons for closers — not even great ones. The Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase allowed five earned runs all regular season — and then eight in the playoffs. Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams blew that wild-card game against the Mets. All-Star Jeff Hoffman lost two games for the Phillies. Weaver, however, was the one consistent late-game performer and was great while often pitching more than one inning. He posted a 1.76 ERA across 15⅓ innings. Who knows how the World Series ends if Yankees manager Aaron Boone keeps Weaver in the game in the 10th inning of Game 1. (Weaver had thrown just 19 pitches.)
Treinen, meanwhile, capped his comeback season — he had missed almost all of 2022 and then all of 2023 — with a 2.19 ERA across 12⅓ innings, winning two games and saving three others. In the World Series clincher, he recorded seven outs and got out of a two-on, no-out jam in the eighth inning to preserve the Dodgers’ 7-6 lead before handing the ball to Buehler to close out the ninth.
Honorable mention: Cade Smith, Cleveland Guardians; Michael Kopech, Los Angeles Dodgers; Beau Brieske, Detroit Tigers
All-October Award Winners
October MVP: Freddie Freeman
Pitchers of the month: Gerrit Cole, Walker Buehler (tie)
Best October introduction: Mark Vientos
Clutch performer: Freeman
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