Through the years Clemson has had some prolific offensive football teams and stars, especially in the last 15 years when the no-huddle, fast-break offenses became the norm in college football.

The Clemson Insider went through the archives to find the best offensive football teams in Clemson history. What are the criteria for the 10 best offenses in Clemson history? Obviously, yards and points per game will stand out as will offensive playmakers. How many All-ACC or All-Americans were on the team, where they ranked in the ACC, nationally and much more?

Today, we begin our list with what TCI believes is the No. 10 offense in Clemson history.

2001

When you just look at the 2001 season from an outside perspective, it’s hard to imagine how good the Tigers really were on offense. Clemson finished the 2001 season with a 7-5 overall record, including a 4-4 overall record in the ACC.

Coming off a 9-3 season from the year before, and with record breaking playmaker Woodrow Dantlzer back at quarterback, many expected the Tigers to contend for an ACC Championship in Tommy Bowden’s third season as head coach.

The biggest question mark was how good the Tigers’ offense would be now that offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez—the brainchild behind the no-huddle, fast break offense— was gone. Rodriguez departed after the 2000 season to become the head coach at West Virginia.

Former NC State head coach and Clemson quarterback Mike O’Cain, who Bowden brought in after he was let go at NC State following the 1999 season, inherited a talented group led by electrifying quarterback Woodrow Dantzler.

In his first full season as a starter, Dantzler threw for 1,871 yards and rushed for another 1,028. He rushed for 13 touchdowns and threw for another 11. The Tigers also returned running back Travis Zachery, who rushed for 1,027 yards and 13 touchdowns, while catching 29 passes for 313 yards and five more scores.

On the offensive line, the Tigers’ returned three starters, all up the middle in right guard Will Merritt, left guard T.J. Watkins and All-American center Kyle Young.

Clemson was young at wide receiver in 2001, but as always, they had talented playmakers in freshmen Derrick Hamilton, Roscoe Crosby and Airese Currie.

The Tigers opened the season by winning four its first five games, including a dramatic, 47-44, overtime victory at Georgia Tech. Dantzler scored on an 11-yard run in the extra period to give Clemson the win, over the No. 9 ranked Yellow Jackets.

It was the Tigers’ highest ranked road win since it beat a No. 8 North Carolina team in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1981.

Dantzler had a great all-around performance in the game as he rushed for 164 yards and threw for another 254. He had two rushing touchdowns and threw for three more in the victory. The most electric of those plays came on the last play of the first half when he completed a 39-yard touchdown run which is known as the “Hail-Mary Run” in Clemson lore.

For his efforts, Dantzler was named USA TODAY’s National Player of the Week.

Two weeks later Dantzler raced to the front of the Heisman Trophy race with a 517-yard afternoon at NC State. Dantzler broke numerous Clemson records in completing 23 of 27 passes for 333 yards and four scores. He also rushed 23 times for 184 yards and two touchdowns. The six total touchdowns and his 517 total yards were Clemson single-game records at the time.

During the game, Dantlzer went over 4,000 yards passing and 2,000 yards rushing for his career, the first player in ACC history to do both.

With Dantzler leading the way, the Tigers averaged 432.0 yards and 30.8 points per game in 2001. Five times that year, Clemson scored 38 or more points, including a season-high 59 points against Duke in the regular-season finale.

In that game, a 59-31 victory for the Tigers, Dantzler became the first player in NCAA Division I football history to pass for 2,000 yards and run for another 1,000 in the same season. He reached the milestone with an 18-yard run for a touchdown against Duke in Death Valley.

Dantzler finished the season with 1,061 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, while throwing for 2,578 yards and 21 touchdowns.

On Dec. 31, 2001, Clemson earned its first bowl victory since 1993 with a 49-24 win over Louisiana Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho. The Tigers’ offense scored 28 points in the third quarter to blow the game open.

Playing in his final game, Dantzler was named the game’s MVP after he completed 15 of 23 passes for 218 yards and four touchdowns. Bernard Rambert rushed for 101 yards and had 77 receiving yards to support an offense that gained 548 total yards. Four different freshmen scored touchdowns in Hamilton, Crosby, Currie and tight end Ben Hall.

In 2001, Hamilton led the Tigers in receiving yards (684) and receptions (53), both freshman records at the time. He also led the Tigers in kickoff returns with 476 yards on 15 returns, including a 100-yard return for a touchdown. The freshman averaged 31.7 yards per return. He had four touchdown receptions.

Zachery rushed for 576 yards and scored eight touchdowns, while also catching 45 passes for 414 more yards and three scores.

Crosby caught 27 passed for 465 yards and four touchdowns, while J.J. McKelvey hauled in 29 passes for 402 yards and scored four touchdowns as well. Currie caught 18 passes for 320 yards and one touchdown during his freshman season.

Dantzler became the first Clemson quarterback since Mike Eppley in 1984 to earn First-Team All-ACC honors, while Young was named a Third-Team All-American at center, as well as a Second-Team All-ACC selection. Merritt was also an All-ACC second-team honoree at right guard.

—Photo courtesy Clemson Athletic Communications

TCI’s Clemson preseason magazine is now available.  Order your copy of Unfinished Business – An Insider Look at Clemson’s 2016 season today.