Swinney says win over Syracuse was 'one for the ages'

Swinney celebrates the win over Syracuse.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Oct 24 18:50:49 GMT-04:00 2022

Dabo Swinney says that Saturday’s victory over Syracuse was one for the ages.

Clemson defeated the Orange 27-21 in comeback fashion on Homecoming, overcoming a 21-10 second-half deficit and four turnovers to secure the victory. The win gives Clemson an 8-0 record, including 6-0 in the ACC and an inside track to the ACC Championship Game. One more ACC victory out of the last two conference games would secure the ACC Atlantic championship.

"Super proud of our team. Just an incredible win. It's one for the ages, for sure. I'm proud of our never-quit attitude,” Swinney said on a Monday teleconference. “We've made enough mistakes to lose a couple of games. We had four turnovers and a stop on downs, a scoop-six and down 11 in the fourth quarter and you still win. That's all you need to know about this team. I'm really proud of them. It's a battle-tested group. They just don't quit. We make it harder than it needs to be but to win a game like that is special. It's our third top 15 win this year. We have four road wins, too.

"We're the only 8-0 team in the country. Our open date is coming really late. We've gone 12 straight weeks dating back to camp. We've played six great, veteran, quarterbacks. Of our eight games, I think five of them we were their first loss. We're getting everyone's best shot.”

The Tigers are off this week and head to Notre Dame on Nov. 5th.

“We are where we hoped to be. The open date couldn't come at a better time for us,” Swinney said. “We have to get back to the basics in some areas. We want to get a head start on Notre Dame, too. It's our last true road game. November is what it's all about. We feel like we're built for it. I feel like we have a shot to do some great things. The margin for error gets smaller, though, as the air gets cooler.”

Swinney then detailed what allowed the Tigers to come out on top of the Orange.

“Our fans were awesome Saturday. It was a very physical game,” he said. “We rushed for 327 yards. We had the two bad sacks on our quarterbacks. Neither was on the O-line. I'm proud of our line. (Will) Shipley and (Phil) Mafah were outstanding. We had 91 plays but a lot of missed opportunities, too. We controlled the ball but couldn't get out of our own way at times. We were very physical at receiver and tight end. Shipley has just been amazing. He had 242 all-purpose yards. He's relentless. Mafah is similar but also different. He's starting to come into his own. I love the combination of those two.

"Defensively, they won the day. If we don't shut them out in the second half, we probably don't win the game. After giving up 14 points, we shut them down the rest of the game. Five sacks was a season-high for us. They were 3-of-11 on third down. The interception to seal it was huge. We were much better than the Florida State game as far as our tackling. We have to clean up some things situationally, awareness-wise and positioning in our coverage. Hats off to the defense. They gave us a chance to win the game. BT (Potter) is a weapon. What a game Aidan Swanson had. We had two punts and both were 50+ yarders."

He then detailed the schedule for the coaches and players this week.

"We got home around 7:15 (Saturday), so that's a start. We are coming off of two weeks where we got home at 6 AM after a game,” Swinney said. “We have a chance to use this time wisely and recover some, because we have been going for 12 straight weeks. We'll practice on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, but it's a later open date so we will work on Clemson, some basics, self-evaluate.

“We want to get a head start on the next game, too. We want to work on recruiting. Players will finish up on Thursday and have a nice break. Tuesday we'll go serve the community. It's huge for us. That's all they'll have on Tuesday. Wednesday will be meetings and practice and the same on Thursday. We'll have everyone back on Sunday."