Swinney updates injuries, talks open date schedule and buying Clemson stock |
November’s dance card is full, but for now, Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers are taking a break.
The No. 9 Tigers, fresh off a 48-31 victory over Virginia, are off this week and are home for Louisville on Nov. 2nd. The Tigers then go on the road for games at Virginia Tech and Pitt before returning home to close out the regular season schedule against The Citadel and South Carolina. “Obviously, we'll do everything we can during the open date. There's a lot of guys that need to really recover and get themselves in a better spot, hopefully by next week,” Swinney told the media during a Monday teleconference. “And then hopefully get a couple of guys back as well. But again, overall, game-wise, we did a lot of good things. I love that we could limit their run game and really get control of the game. Got pressure on the quarterback. Offensively, just very efficient and a lot of explosives, no sacks, a lot of good things there, but plenty that we need to do better on offense. “We left some stuff out there, missed opportunities, some dumb penalties, turned the ball over. And then defensively, we let 'em score, I don't know what it was, a couple touchdowns in two minutes and really disappointed with some of our guys down the stretch, not playing like we need 'em to play. And so, a good opportunity to really coach those guys hard this week. But all in all, a lot of good things that we did, and we can keep growing from.” On the improved run defense “I just think getting Peter Woods back didn't hurt things. He was MVP of the game defensively, him and Wood (Wade Woodaz), they played just really, really good football for us. Peter, I thought probably his best game since the Georgia game, he was disruptive, and we're tackling better. That's been part of it too, but just guys doing their job, but still plenty that we need to do better, especially in the passing game with some busts and things like that. But that's the main thing. I mean, we've got good players, and they're playing and disruptive upfront. I think Payton Page, and DeMonte Capehart they're a load. Tré (Williams), all those guys. We've got a lot of guys that are doing a nice job for us in the run game. So we've gotten better and better there, but still more that we can do.” On buying stock in Clemson “It's just what I believe. I'm not out to prove anything. That's just my heart and what I believe. I just think we have a great group of young men, and that goes back to that Notre Dame game. It was a tough game, a tough week to see the heart of our team in that moment and how that really propelled us. I could see the growth coming in those guys. I mean, I could see it. I could see our quarterback getting better. I could see a lot of good things in a lot of areas that not everybody else sees. And so, I really feel like we've got a chance to be a really good team at that point. And we finished well, and we carried it over into this year and I think we got a chance to be really good in the next couple years. Honestly. I mean the way our roster's built, we got a really, really good group. But our focus right now is to just continue to finish.” Schedule on the open date “We'll tweak a couple of things. We'll still go for four days. We will get four good days in like we always do. We've got some community service for some kids tomorrow, and that's always a fun time. We'll still have four good work days starting tonight. We'll be out on the field here in just a little bit. But I think the biggest thing at this point, again, we started July 30th, these guys have been through a lot. We'll do a little bit more focus with our younger guys that really need a lot of competitive work. We'll give more of the competitive work to those guys. And then all these high rep guys that have had a ton of competitive work, we'll really give more fundamental and team separate work getting ready for Louisville. We have a lot of guys. This is a chance to take advantage of a little bit of time where some of these guys, hopefully by Monday, we can have 'em ready for a great November. But definitely got a lot of guys beat up and we need to try to get healthy this week, too.” On Cade Klubnik’s accuracy "He just missed some plays. He still had a great day. He was 23-of-35, 308 yards and three touchdowns. He just missed too many layups. That's what he was talking about. He had Briningstool wide open for a touchdown in the end zone. In a tighter game, we need to make those plays. We had a couple of plays outside that we didn't make for him. He had a really good day, but he's got a high standard. We had 539 yards, but we should have had 600+ had we just made some routine plays." Assessment of red zone defense “Inconsistent, especially with our backup guys. It was really good last week, and I think we were one of three this week. One was on (Branden) Strozier at the end of the game, and that should have been an easy play. We're not where we need to be from a discipline and execution standpoint. We have to be better."
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