CLEMSON FOOTBALL

Swinney updates injuries, defensive woes, lack of urgency on offense, and cut blocks
Swinney said there in plenty of talent on the defense (Photo by Merrell Mann).

Swinney updates injuries, defensive woes, lack of urgency on offense, and cut blocks


by - Senior Writer -

Clemson’s defense is receiving the most criticism following Saturday night’s loss to Louisville, and head coach Dabo Swinney told the media that the group wasn’t ready to play.

No. 19 Clemson travels to Virginia Tech next weekend, the second of five November games as the Tigers fight for postseason position. ACC title hopes and College Football Playoff hopes were dealt major blows with the 33-21 loss to the unranked Cardinals.

During his Sunday night teleconference, Swinney said there were too many missed opportunities.

"Not much different from what I said last night. Incredibly disappointing game. Give a ton of credit to Louisville. They out-executed us in all three phases,” Swinney said. “Bottom line, we didn't deserve to win. We could not stop the run and had missed opportunities offensively where we didn't finish. We had to settle for some kicks and those kicks were blocked. We had a chance to create some momentum to go up 14-3 and we didn't get that done. A lot of missed opportunities and no complementary football.

"Defensively, no turnovers and our fundamentals were poor. I'm really disappointed in how we played. When you don't stop the run, you don't deserve to win. And then penalties.

"Offensively, 200 yards rushing and 200 yards passing and it hadn't happened where we lost a game in over 100 years until last year. And then it happened again last night. We had no turnovers but just too many missed opportunities. You make those field goals, you create some momentum. Some long drives and we didn't finish. The positive was ... our offensive line was physical. And we gave up the one sack. Mafah competed his butt off. So did Cade. But we didn't do enough to create the momentum when we had opportunities to and in any facet of the game.

"We have to get back to work and reset this week. We have another opportunity this week. We'll flush it and move on really quickly.”

Swinney said there were two injuries of note, while adding that Peter Woods is day-to-day.

"Injury-wise, Capehart and Shelton Lewis will be week to week,” Swinney said. “Everybody else will be day to day at this point."

The Clemson defense allowed Louisville to average 7.8 yards per carry and freshman running back Isaac Brown gained 150 yards, and Swinney was asked if it’s coaching, scheme, or talent.

"They've done a lot good things at times. Last night was the worst game we've played all year. We've got plenty of talent. We've got great talent over there. I didn't have them ready to play. It's just that simple. Poor job,” Swinney said. “We didn't tackle well. We didn't create turnovers. Not leveraging the ball, not finding the ball, not getting off blocks up front. We had a bunch of missed tackles. There were a lot of things that we need to do better.

"We're 5-1 in the league and 6-2. It's hard to go undefeated and it's going to get harder and harder to go undefeated. Sometimes you can have a funky night like that and it happened last night and it hurt us. We have to get ready for the next one."

Swinney said it’s jarring to see Clemson ranked 59th nationally in rush defense.

On if Cade Klubnik was rattled

“No. First two drives we were three and out. They said it was a false start. I didn't see it on tape. And then we had a missed block, so we were behind the chains. The third drive we had a nice touchdown drive and then the next drive we had a 10-play drive. We had two guys wide open and the ball gets tipped up. Tristan caught it. That's not the stat we wanted. It was minus nine yards and knocked us out of field goal range. We come out in the second half and had the fourth and one stop, then had a 13-play drive and had a blocked field goal. There were a few plays he missed and some plays we should have made for him. He made some really, really, good checks. I think he was 5-for-5 on checks that he made which was really good to see. Nobody was good enough to win but he competed his tail off."

On if Louisville has cut block all season and if it led to the injuries

"Yes, yes, but no on the injuries. Peter just got shook up a little bit. Louisville just does that (cut blocks). It's nothing we weren't prepared for."

Kicker Nolan Hauser’s confidence

"He's got good confidence. He's a really confident, stable, young man. The first one we lost Peter Woods and were scrambling there. We weren't firm at our end position there. Simple as that. Their guy ran through us and blocked it. The second one, our wing, he reached out and the guy came right through the gap. Our wing just didn't get his job done. It's disappointing. We didn't execute the fundamentals and the technique there. Don't blame the players. Put that on me."

On if league has clarified decision on onside kick

"No. Biggest thing is they called it their possession. I guess they didn't have enough video evidence to overturn it. We need to do a better job of not letting it come down to that anyway. That was definitely something that didn't go our way. We thought we had it but they obviously saw something different."

On lack of urgency and taking so long to get plays in on offense

“There were a couple in the fourth quarter. They moved the chains on us and we had to get different personnel in the game. We had another where we thought it was fourth and inches and then it was fourth and one and a half. There were a couple of other times where we didn't have enough urgency. I think we had 101 snaps, the second most in Clemson history, so we were trying to get some fresh legs in the game. But definitely we needed to do a better job in some instances."

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spacer TNET: Swinney updates injuries, defensive woes, lack of urgency on offense, and cut blocks
TigerNet News®
spacer Re: TNET: Swinney updates injuries, defensive woes, lack of urgency on offense, and cut blocks
spiderman_x10®
spacer South Carolina is going to emulate everything Louisville did
tigerdrummer®
spacer He said we were prepared for the cut blocks? Really?***
vfral1®
spacer Re: He said we were prepared for the cut blocks? Really?***
bassdogmwp
spacer lol hes fluffing the 200 pass and 200 rush
tgrfan42069
spacer yes....it's ridiculous to do that seeing as though the offense only scored ONCE
pheebo
spacer Re: lol hes fluffing the 200 pass and 200 rush
RememberTheDanny
spacer Re: lol hes fluffing the 200 pass and 200 rush
RobRawr864
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tigerpaw®
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CUTIGERS2002®
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Marine4Life®
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christiegofor®
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Toyotatiger
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baker5801®
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Toyotatiger
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Deano101a®
spacer Re: TNET: Swinney updates injuries, defensive woes, lack of urgency on offense, and cut blocks
CU1976
spacer Re: TNET: Swinney updates injuries, defensive woes, lack of urgency on offense, and cut blocks
RememberTheDanny
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Calhoun2
spacer Re: TNET: Swinney updates injuries, defensive woes, lack of urgency on offense, and cut blocks
DougKingsmoreCrusade
spacer we don't care anymore
NIKE
spacer our offensive line was physical
clemson_alum
spacer Like UVA Offense vs. Clemson Defense
SocMan2®
spacer I would Love for a Reporter to ask Dabo: WHY were the
svaughan
spacer Re: Like UVA Offense vs. Clemson Defense
CUALUM75
spacer Re: TNET: Swinney updates injuries, defensive woes, lack of urgency on offense, and cut blocks
Clemgalalways®
spacer NO Dabo You were NOT prepared!!!!
coachmac
spacer 1 for 12
treeclimber
spacer Disagree with him on one point
JREwing®
spacer Re: TNET: Swinney updates injuries, defensive woes, lack of urgency on offense, and cut blocks
WMH65
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CUALUM75
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JDCAT
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Jtigger
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