Technically, this is against the rules. Clemson’s most valuable asset against Wofford was not a player at all. In fact, it was not a singular coach, either. Clemson’s most valuable assets in a 49-10 September win over the Terriers were co-offensive coordinators Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott.

All offseason, murmuring commenced around the country about how Clemson’s offense would fall off after the departure of Chad Morris for a head coaching position at SMU. The dominating bowl win over Oklahoma was seen as a product of Sooner dysfunction rather than Tiger precision. There has been much love proclaimed toward Clemson in the recent past, but where there has been skepticism, question marks surrounding Elliott and Scott and their combined fitness to assume Morris’ role were prominently featured.

A game against a team like Wofford doesn’t prove much for a team like Clemson, but in this case, one of the themes that leapt from the playing field was the simplicity of Clemson’s attack that turned up the heat and the tempo on an inferior adversary. In many ways, this was a coming-out party for Elliott and Scott, just as the bowl win over Oklahoma might have been a miniature one.

The ball was filtered into the hands of an abundance of playmakers. Three different quarterbacks led scoring drives, a feat that will rarely be duplicated all throughout the country this season. It was a 300-yard passing, 200-yard rushing performance every coordinator in the nation dreams will come to his corner of the college football universe.

More than that, it was a game that showed the fans watching this particular iteration of the Clemson offense in person for the first time that Elliott and Scott want to govern with a laissez faire style that stems from the belief that players make offense, not playcallers. Twice they have led Clemson’s attack, and twice it has impressed. That cannot be a coincidence.