Sunday Night Teleconference: Swinney says "we looked like Clemson football" |
Dabo Swinney says that beyond a couple of miscues by the offense, Saturday looked the way Clemson football is supposed to look.
Clemson rebounded from an early 14-7 deficit to defeat Charleston Southern 66-17 in Death Valley Saturday afternoon. "We got done what we needed to do in the game yesterday. I'm proud of the team and the staff,” Swinney said on his Sunday night teleconference. “It was a tough week with the short turnaround. Outside of a couple of really, really bad plays from Cade (Klubnik), we looked like Clemson football. We just have to cut out the costly turnovers. When we play complementary football, we can be a really good team. "I was really pleased to see a team that got better as the game went on. When we substituted, we continued to play really well. Defensively, it's unfortunate that they get stuck with some of these points that we've given up over the last two games. To hold the opponent to 73 yards, I don't care who you play, it's hard to do. We played really good inside. They had 10 yards rushing. They only had four first downs in the game. Two weeks in a row we were really good on third down. I saw promise from our depth, and I'm encouraged by that. We have a few things to correct, but overall just a good day defensively.” The Tigers rolled up 673 yards of offense and scored 42 points in the second half. "Offensively, another very productive game. This game, we were able to get the points, unlike the first game. The biggest issue in the first game was red zone,” Swinney said. “We went seven out of eight in the red zone yesterday. Back to back games, we were good on third down. It would have been over 700 yards, but we had negative yards off the bad fumble that came early in the game. "I'm impressed with our offensive line. Good protection in the whole game. We had a breakdown late on a miscommunication. Our second-team group played well upfront. I love the depth at running back. We had a bunch of long drives, which is indicative of us doing the routine things well, which we did not do well consistently in the first game.” However, the two early turnovers are a sticking point. "We got on track a little bit. It's all about the ball, though. We have to take care of the ball,” Swinney said. “We lost the turnover margin again. It's hard to win games that way. Turnovers can make you average quick. It's all correctible. Outside of that, a lot of good things. I was proud of (kicker) Robert (Gunn) and how he responded. It was good to see him make a field goal. We only had one punt and it was a 53-yarder. We have to keep building, growing, teaching and coaching. "Our crowd was awesome. We look forward to being back out there Saturday night. Injury-wise, we came out of yesterday in good shape. No player came in today with anything serious." On Cade Klubnik “He's an outstanding decision-maker. He's smart as all get out. He's just had a couple of plays ... the fourth and one, he just got kind of flustered and got in a hurry. The clock was against him, but he's got to let us manage that. That snap wasn't perfect, but he's got to make that. The interception, I got no answer for that. He just ... I'm not sure. I'm anxious to visit with him on that. After that, he settled down and played well, and did a heck of a job. He's gutsy. He used his legs better. "Just don't try to do too much. He's trying to do a little too much. It's all right there, so play within the system. Everybody was open on that play, and he got himself in a bind. Sometimes you just have to take a sack. He'll learn from it. There's no doubt about it. The good news is he's got a chance to be really, really good for us. Garrett is doing a great job with him. We have been very productive two games in a row offensively. We just have to cut out the turnovers. It's really hard to win when you tie the margin, but harder when you lose the turnover margin." On tempo "That's back to back games with over 80 plays. I think our depth is a positive for us, for sure. Hopefully it'll be a factor regardless of who we play. We just have to finish. Tempo, it's kind of dictated by the situation. It wasn't anything specific. We've been really good when we have gone tempo. It has been productive for us." Playing younger players "We love our roster. We think we've signed three really good classes in a row. We think we have put a really good roster together. We think we are in a good place and built to have a really good year this year and hopefully several years to come."
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