Success has the potential to discourage evolution. In college football, repeated success under one model only serves to reinforce the approach; positive results can often strip away the impulse toward self-evaluation instead of promoting outside ideas or concepts.
This can make the high-performing programs of the Bowl Subdivision resemble large ocean liners: difficult to move, hard to steer and slow to turn.
There are examples in recent history of elite teams and coaches overturning an established offensive identity in favor of wholesale change. Most notably, Alabama’s shift toward a spread-based scheme under coach Nick Saban has embodied college football’s ongoing offensive revolution and maintained the Crimson Tide’s place as the dominant program of the FBS.
One of Alabama’s biggest foils has been slower to embrace an overhaul.
For the second season in a row, Clemson’s underachieving offense has threatened to derail what was until recently almost preordained: that the Tigers would dominate the ACC, take home the conference championship and reach the College Football Playoff.
