Swinney takes the blame for poor play: 'We didn't deserve to win'

Swinney says the Tigers didn't deserve to win (Photo by Merrell Mann).

David Hood - Senior Writer - Sunday, November 03 2024

CLEMSON – Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney called Saturday night’s loss to Louisville a missed opportunity.

Yes, it’s that simple. But it’s also more than that as a team that had hopes for a possible berth in the College Football Playoff and the ACC Championship had those hopes put on hold with Saturday’s abysmal loss to Louisville.

The Tigers were whipped, soundly, in every single facet.

“I think you have to congratulate Louisville and Coach (Jeff) Brohm,” Swinney said. “I just thought they did an awesome job. They played a heck of a game in every facet, and their kids played really hard. The quarterback was outstanding. Obviously, the running back was the difference in the game (Isaac Brown, 150 yards), and we did not play anywhere near our best tonight. And it hurts. It's a missed opportunity, a huge missed opportunity, and we didn't deserve to win. They absolutely deserved to win. We did not. So you got to give them all the credit.

“We looked like a very poorly coached team tonight. And that's on me. Simple as that. Just incredibly disappointed with our performance tonight. I thought our fans were awesome. It was another great environment. We really missed an opportunity. Three things, you don't get back, you don't get back time, you don't get back words and you don't get back opportunity. This was a missed one tonight, for sure.”

Clemson’s defense surrendered too many big plays as Louisville had runs of 47, 23, 12, 23, 16, and 45 yards, averaging 7.8 yards per carry.

“It's just incredibly frustrating. Big plays on defense. You don't deserve to win when you can't stop the run. That's just what we've always hung our hat on,” Swinney said. “And we couldn't stop the run tonight, really poor average, 7.8 per carry, incredibly poor tackling, very few punts. We did not affect the quarterback like we wanted to. No sacks. So again, you don't deserve to win when people can line up an average 7.8 per carry on you. And so just incredibly disappointing.

“What I saw tonight, the two blocked kicks, those were missed points. Opportunity missed, momentum opportunity and created momentum for them. And the one gave them a short field, but still, you have to go out there and hold 'em. Don't give up a touchdown. And just really poor execution on our left side with our wing and our tight end. Peter Woods got hurt and that kind of affected us there a little bit, but that's coaching, so that's all you can say on that.”

The offense wasn’t any better.

“Really, really poor job. Offensively, we had the penalty early. We had a missed block early and that really cost us with some execution early and first couple drives there,” Swinney said. “We had missed plays offensively. The one big play to TJ (Moore), what a beautiful to throw right there. TJ's going to make a million of those in his career, but we missed that one right there. And that's an opportunity. The ball's going to probably be about the one and you got a chance to kind of retake the lead there and have good momentum.

“So just didn't make some of the plays that we've been making early. And then we had some miscues, a couple missed assignments, but mostly just penalties, missed blocks, whatever. Some really costly penalties tonight as well. But I am proud of how they competed. They fought all the way to the end. They did not quit. So that's a credit to who they are. And again, one thing I talk about all the time is playing complementary football. That's what it takes. I knew Louisville was going to be a tough challenge.”