Dabo sends missed call on Rodgers fair catch to ACC, speaks with head official |
CLEMSON – Clemson head coach
Dabo Swinney and ACC Supervisor of Football Officials Dennis Hennigan had a conversation this week about a missed call that went against the Tigers last week at Boston College, and while Swinney won’t divulge the contents of the conversation, Swinney believes the ACC is determined to get things right.
Clemson punt returner Amari Rodgers was clearly interfered with during an attempt at catching a punt in the first half against the Eagles – a Boston College player hit Rodgers before he could make the catch - but kick-catch interference was not called, as Boston College recovered the fumble. The play is not reviewable – the only review was whether Boston College recovered the ball inbounds – and Swinney was visibly angry on the sidelines. It led to a conversation with Hennigan. “I’m not at liberty to share the response but Mr. Hennigan has a high level of accountability and he does a good job of trying to get better every week just like we do,” Swinney said Wednesday. “We make mistakes and we see them and we own them. They want us to turn things in. As far as our conversation back and forth, I’ll keep that private.” Swinney said he wishes plays like that one were reviewable. “That’s what I told the ref. If that’s not reviewable then we can’t miss that call. That’s a game-changing deal in front of everybody,” he said. “I would love for that to be reviewable - catch interference on a punt like that. I’m not talking about every pass interference or anything like that. I’m talking about kick-catch interference. That’s a game-changing deal. I would love for that to be reviewable. I don’t know how often that happens and it’s probably one of those things that pretty rare, so I don’t think you’d have a bunch of reviewable situations. From time to time, you’d have something like the other night, that would’ve really helped us and I could’ve kept my timeout.” He also said that Rodgers has to go after the loose ball and not worry about lobbying the official for a call. “Absolutely. He’s lobbying for a call. He doesn’t need to be lobbying for a call,” Swinney said. “He just needs to get on the ball. We’ll ask questions later. It was a good coaching opportunity for him that hey, you can’t worry about that. You just have to play the play because I think had he not been lobbying he probably could’ve gotten on the ball. It was a tough break and we were fortunate that it didn’t cost us right there and our defense did a great job getting it back.” OTHER NOTES Juniors that will run down the hill “Clelin (Ferrell) - we’ve kind of had him as a senior all year. He’s graduating in December. For us, you have to be at least a fourth-year guy or you’re graduating in December if you’re a three-year guy like Deshaun (Watson) did when he was a senior. Garrett (Williams) has already graduated but he’s a fourth-year guy. The only guys who actually still have eligibility left are Garrett, Austin Spence, Kyle Cote and Ty Thomasson. They’re the only guys who have eligibility left who are seniors in the classroom. Austin is not sure and Garrett is not sure, so we’re going to go ahead and honor those guys and if they decided to come back then great. We’ll definitely welcome them back.” On the importance of having the indoor practice facility “I was just talking about that today. I was reminiscing of when we didn’t have it and how chaotic that was. It’s just such a blessing. We moved in it in December of 2012 right before we played LSU. We were so inefficient. We couldn’t practice. There was nowhere to go and all you could do was walk through. There was nowhere to do anything full speed. We’d go into the indoor track and roll out a piece of carpet but you couldn’t do anything on it other than walk through. You couldn’t get the team in there, but it just was what it was and we made it work. It was a constant juggling of the schedule whereas now we don’t even think about. There’s no ulterior planning. It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s bad weather? No problem.’ I remember one year it rained and we never practiced and it takes a toll. Then it’s the summer. These guys have skills and drills and all of a sudden you get washed out and you just missed a day. That indoor facility is one of the best things that’s happened around here for us as far as being able to develop our team and have consistency in our preparation in season and offseason.” BT Potter’s short kickoffs at BC “It wasn’t ideal weather. One way was better than the other from a wind standpoint but definitely cold. Just like playing golf, if you get out there on a cold day, that golf ball doesn’t want to go quite as far either. He hit some good ones. He hit a couple that weren’t quite as good but he’ll be alright.” On if Potter has freshman fatigue “Probably. He’s a true freshman. I think that’s probably fair. I was talking to Xavier Thomas the other day and asking him how he was holding up because he’s never played more than 10 games in his life. It’s not only playing 10 games but we’ve been going since August 1. For some of these new guys - I think B.T. has played 15 games every year of his life coming from South Pointe - the totality of the season and all that goes into it at this level it’s a grind for some of these young guys and an adjustment.” What a night game means to Clemson “I think obviously our fans love the night games here, so I think it’s great. Even the noon games from a TV standpoint, we get a national audience. It’s a special time in the Valley when you’re under the lights, especially this time of year. November. It’s not September and at seven o’clock, it’s going to dark out there. It will be an awesome environment. I think our guys love it playing under the lights, especially Senior Day and having the chance to really savor the day and give them a full day to really soak in Senior Day and for our fans to have a full day to tailgate and have a chance to appreciate Military Appreciation Day and all of that. It’ll be an awesome atmosphere. I’m glad we’re going to be able finish with back-to-back night games.”
Upgrade Your Account
Unlock premium boards and exclusive features (e.g. ad-free) by upgrading your account today.
Upgrade Now
