DJ Uiagalelei says he should have been benched, is proud of Cade Klubnik

It was a tough day for DJ Uiagalelei, but he stayed engaged and led from the sidelines late.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Oct 23 10:08:03 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – DJ Uiagalelei walked out to face the media late Saturday afternoon, a large gash on his hand from where a Syracuse defender stomped it, and took all the blame for his poor performance in the Tigers’ 27-21 victory over the Orange in Death Valley.

Freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik came off the bench in the third quarter with the Tigers trailing 21-10 and led three scoring drives on the way to the win over Syracuse. Klubnik replaced Uiagalelei on Clemson’s fourth possession of the third quarter and finished 2-of-4 passing for 19 yards, with six carries for 15 yards.

Uiagalelei went 13-of-21 passing for 138 yards and threw two interceptions, while also losing a fumble that was returned 90 yards for a touchdown.

Following Uiagalelei’s second interception, head coach Dabo Swinney walked over the Klubnik and told him to get warm, and the freshman responded by leading the Tigers back from a two-score deficit. Uiagalelei said he had no problem with heading to the bench in favor of Klubnik, the freshman out of Austin (TX) Westlake.

“You have to get a spark when the quarterback is not playing good and especially how I have been playing and how I feel like I should have played,” Uiagalelei said after the game. “You have to be able to make a change like that.”

Swinney says it just wasn’t Uiagalelei’s day.

"Just one of them days. D.J. has been awesome all season. Sometimes the ball doesn't go in the basket,” Swinney said. “Sometimes it just won't go in. Sometimes you just have to give somebody else an opportunity. D.J. is our starter and leader, ain't nothing changed there. You can go ahead and type that up. He's earned that. I'll go to battle with that guy any day. He's got to clean some things up, and he will. I heard Chase Brice was at the game today, so I guess it's only fitting. I don't know, maybe next time we play Syracuse we'll have to sacrifice a billy goat. Some crazy stuff happens when we play these dudes.

"Proud of Cade for being ready. He gave us a spark. Settled down and found a way to just battle back.

Uiagalelei said only one thing matters to him.

“At the end of the day, for me, stats are not everything. My No. 1 stat is to win or lose. Today we got a ‘W’ by Cade going out there,” Uiagalelei said. “That is Coach Swinney’s No. 1 job. There are a 135 guys on this team and at the end of the day, his responsibility is to the team, not me.”

Uiagalelei’s first interception killed one scoring drive, and he fumbled at the Syracuse 15 a drive later. That fumble was scooped up and returned 90 yards for a touchdown. His second interception was an overthrow in the middle of the field.

“I thought a couple of times, I just made a couple of bad decisions,” Uiagalelei said. “Of course, there was the fumble and then just bad decisions right there, I thought.”

Klubnik came in and made the plays that had to be made.

“Cade came in and played amazing. He picked us up,” Uiagalelei said. “He won that football game for us today, along with the offensive line, the running backs. Shoutout to (Klubnik), he did an unbelievable job today. He did a great job managing the game. Going out there and trusting yourself and playing. I am super proud of Cade today.”