Published Oct 16, 2022
Swinney on Florida State, DJU, defensive lapses, Syracuse
Tigerillustrated.com
Tigerillustrated.com

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CLEMSON -- Sunday evening Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney addressed members of the media in his weekly teleconference, this time to take a closer look at his team's 34-28 win over Florida State upon further review. Swinney also looked ahead to a week of preparation prior to next Saturday's matchup with No. 14-ranked Syracuse in Death Valley.

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The following is an abbreviated transcript of Sunday's teleconference.

OPENING STATEMENTS: "Long trip back for us. We had a little issue with the fuel on the plane. We got here a little after 6. Good to get back home and good to have the victory. It’s a hard, hard place to go play. We have a lot of bad memories from playing down there. I’m proud of our guys for getting the victory. That’s what we went down there to do. Our fourth road win. I saw a stat today … nine ranked teams went on the road this weekend and their record was 1-8. We were the only ranked team to go on the road and win. It’s hard to win.

“A lot of good things in the game. Special teams were so huge for us. The big return, the field goals, we stopped a fake and got the ball. We did a lot of good things in the game. We won that part of the game. We won the turnover margin, too.

“I’m just really proud of our team. They have been through some battles. We’re 7-0 and not many teams can say that. I have such an appreciation for winning and us finding a way to win. This needs to be a great week of preparation.

“We came through the game OK except for Matthew Maloney. He tore his ACL, so he’s out. He has had one before (other knee). He is a great kid and was starting on about three (special teams) units for us. We’re in a pretty good spot injury-wise overall, though.”

“Offensively we were efficient, scoring on five of our first seven drives. We got back on track on third down with 10-of-18. Really proud of D.J. Great leadership. He managed the game well. No turnovers, which was huge. We continue to do a good job in the red zone. We just had some critical penalties and we missed some plays. I’m proud of the offensive line … no sacks (on the OL). We had one on D.J. where he just held the ball. We had another one where they called it a sack, but it was a draw. Hopefully they’ll change that.

“To come back out in the second half, we had a one-play touchdown and then we had another great drive. The fourth quarter we had a 20-point lead and took a couple of shots and didn’t hit on them before we went on an 11-play drive. Biggest thing … we didn’t finish the game well in the fourth quarter (defensively). We didn’t start or finish well on defense. Next thing you know you have an onside kick.

“The three stops on downs, the goal line stand … we did a lot of good things on defense. It was great to get Sheridan back. Trotter had 13 tackles. We have several guys who are really consistent. Tyler Davis is so consistent. Just a poor job on third down defensively and missed tackles. There is no other way to say it. We had 24 missed tackles. I don’t remember the last time we’ve done that. Just a bad finish and we lost our focus and got undisciplined. The good news is we found a way to win the game. We had some critical, critical plays. We just have top put people away when we have an opportunity. You can’t give up the yards we gave up in the fourth quarter against good people. Everything is correctible. I’m excited to get back to work tomorrow and keep building.

“We have a heck of an opportunity this week. We both want control of the division and that’s at stake this week. It’ll be a great opportunity for us."

Q: How about Brannon Spector, who loses his starting spot but on Saturday he recovers the onside kick and stonewalls the faked punt. He remains pretty active for you.

SWINNEY: "Absolutely and he will continue to contribute. He's just a redshirt sophomore. He's still got a lot of football. He has been a factor for us. He made a huge difference for us on special teams. Luke Price set the edge for us on that fake but Brannon just stoned it for us. It was a big, big play. We got a field goal off of it. We got a touchdown off of the big kick return and we had two field goals. That's 16 points right there off of special teams. The end of the game, obviously, Spec sealing the deal there was big. He had an outstanding game. I'm really proud of him."

Q: Coach Goodwin said last night that some guys looked like they were a little bit rusty after missing some time while some other guys shouldn’t be rusty. When you look at the tape, what was it you saw?

SWINNEY: “All the above. The first one on Barrett … he just stopped his feet. He was in good position. He’s too quick and explosive to get his feet in concrete right there. That’s usually not him. It was just a bad miss. We do have some guys who have been out. Mickens has been out a couple of games. We just had some uncharacteristic things. Wrapping up is the biggest thing and not just trying to knock people down. That’s why God gave us arms. It’s always an emphasis for us but not a good night for us tackling. We had a couple of times where we were out of position and didn’t have the right angle. But we’ll get it corrected.”

Q: Can you talk about the difficulty in keeping your edge week to week? How do you try to avoid what happened late last night?

SWINNEY: “It’s just maturity. It’s leadership and guys just staying focused. We talk about it all the time. You don’t play to a scoreboard. If those things impact your effort and performance, then you’ll never be consistent. That’ll always be the case. We definitely have to put people away. You have a 20-point lead there with ten minutes and it was just a really poor job finishing. We did some bad stuff …. little things. You’re dealing with young people, fans were leaving, too, and I think some of the guys lost some intensity. Sometimes you learn more from the bad than the good. And we'll learn from this.”

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Q: Did you change anything schematically defensively after they had some success early in the run game?

SWINNEY: “We fixed some things on the back side. They were cutting us in half. We just fixed some technique things. We played a good third quarter for sure but did not do a good job of getting our hands on some guys. We gave up a big cover-2 play there where we didn’t get set, so that, then some of our zone drops. As far as adjustments, we just cleaned up some of the mistakes and did better in the third. The offense again was explosive, so that was good to see. We didn’t handle some things well afterwards.”

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Q: How often do you work on onside kicks?

SWINNEY: We work on that every Thursday. I run the drill. We’ve done it for 14 years. Hopefully they’re comfortable with it because we do work on it. We’re going to handle it if it’s clean. If it’s hot, we’re going to let it go and our back-line guys are going to handle it. We definitely want to be aggressive on that front line. Sometimes you have to read the kick. If it’s a one-bounce high, you have to fair catch it. You have to have a guy who’s ready to handle it. If it’s not clean, it needs to go to the back level and you need to go block someone. We work on this every single week. I think our guys are confident with it."

Q: How do you think Mitchell Mayes did in relief last night? And with Blake Miller, is it a confidence issue or is it growing pains?

SWINNEY: “Just young. He had one where we was a little too aggressive and they called it for unnecessary roughness. He had the one hold. You play O-line, you’ll get one occasionally. He’s doing a good job. We definitely want to get other guys in there. Mitchell has practiced well. Thomas Austin told him he was going in during the first half. He got 13 plays. I was pleased with how he plays. He played some left guard and right tackle for us.”

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Q: Looking ahead to Syracuse, what has allowed them to go 6-0 so far?

SWINNEY: “Dino has done a great job. They are a tough bunch. Always are. Schematically they present problems. They’re not big on defense but they really underhand what they do on that side of the ball. Their biggest guy is like 270, but they’re moving every snap. They’re going to try to create advantages with a lot of movement. They do a great job in the secondary. They have two really good corners, their backers are active and they have some elite playmakers. Any time you have a good quarterback, you’ve got a shot. They’ve always had receivers. They have a great tight end who is making a lot of plays. Their back is as good as there is in the country.

"Dino has done a great job. I’m excited about the opportunity. It’s hard to believe that it’s the first time ever where two teams are 6-0 or better are going to be facing off in Death Valley. We’re going to need our fans big-time to show up early and tape their ankles and grab a biscuit and let’s go. It’s going to be a great day."

Q: You’ve talked a lot abut how much DJ has improved. Do you feel he’s playing as well as anyone in the country?

SWINNEY: “I don’t think there’s any question. What he’s providing for our team … just great leadership, excellent decision-making. He’s taking coaching. He prepares like a pro every single day. He loves it. I’m really proud of him. He’s been awesome. To be in that environment and boom you’re down 7-0 and he goes right out there and steps up to make a big play in the pocket. He has demonstrated a lot of determination and toughness. I’m really happy for him and proud of him. He has great command of what’s going on. He’s in a really good place. It’s good to be 7-0 but I promise you his goals are higher than us being 7-0. He’ll be ready to roll this week.”

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