Swinney says 'I'll take it every week' when asked about offensive performance

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney had plenty he liked from Monday's game, despite a shocking final score.

David Hood - Senior Writer - Thursday, September 07 2023

CLEMSON – Clemson didn’t play well in Monday’s loss at Duke, but the good news is that the Tigers can turn the page when they host Charleston Southern this weekend.

The game kicks off at 2:15 pm in Death Valley (ACCN broadcast), just five short days after the loss at Duke.

“Fast week. Thankful that we got the short week so that we can get back out there and get back to playing,” Swinney said Wednesday night. “I am excited about getting in the Valley this week. Excited to see our home crowd. Just a reminder, we are going to open up the new Tiger Walk. I want to invite our former football players. If they want to be a part of that, we’d love to have them out there.”

Swinney said the loss to Duke, as he mentioned after the game, was strange.

“As I said the other night, it was a strange game. Incredibly encouraged-- the things that you need to see to win games, physicality, toughness, play good defense,” he said. “We did all the things that we needed to do from that standpoint, we just didn’t - there’s no gimmes in football. You’ve got to knock the 6-inch putt in. Those are painful lessons.”

Kicker Robert Gunn missed the first two field goal tries of his collegiate career, but Swinney expects a better version this week.

“He responded well today. The team rallied around him-- it’s easy for them to rally around him because they’ve seen him - it’s not theory. It’s just a little bit of a mental thing, and sometimes, as a young player, you deal with that. He’s responded in practice, but you’ve got to do it with the lights on. We are hoping for the best, but he’s got to go do it.”

On Barrett Carter saying he needs to be in “game shape”: “I think that’s normal. You can be in the best shape. You can make every time. You can practice, you can do everything, but until you go play the game, you’ve got to get back in that ‘playing shape’ if you will. That’s the reason why people have preseason games and things like that.”

The play of quarterback Cade Klubnik was also inconsistent.

“I thought he made some elite plays, and then he made some not as good plays. I thought he competed his butt off,” Swinney said. “He made a few plays that were pretty special. Again, I love his leadership. I love his demeanor. There were a few times that I think he got a little amped up. I think that’s a part of - I mean, that’s the first time he’s played football - he hasn’t been hit. He hasn’t been tackled. That’s another reason why you have preseason games where it’s live, full speed, ball handling where he is a factor as well.”

Overall, he was pleased with new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley in his first game.

“I’ll take it every week with 200-plus rushing, 200-plus passing,” Swinney said. “I’ll take it every week. Not really much to improve upon when it comes to that. We were very balanced. We settled in. All of that got lost because-- we’ve won games when our stats were terrible, and the focus was, well, yeah, you won, but your stats were terrible. Well, our stats were really good, and we lost-- so we focus on the loss. We're dynamic there. It was awesome. I’d take it every week.”