Swinney: 'We're down in the valley right now'
CLEMSON -- Sunday evening Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney again addressed members of the media as part of his weekly teleconference, this time to take a closer look at his team's double overtime loss to Miami.
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Clemson (4-3, 2-3) will travel to Raleigh to face N.C. State (4-3, 1-2) next Saturday.
The following is an abbreviated transcript of Sunday evening's teleconference.
ALSO SEE: Clemson's rude awakening | The Day After | South Beached | See subscribers' reaction to Clemson's double overtime loss to Miami
OPENING STATEMENTS: "Tough film to have to watch and relive that. Incredibly disappointing loss. My heart hurts for our players. Just incredibly disappointing to be in position to win but not get over the hump. I give Miami credit. They made one more play than we did. We've had a lot of good times around here and we're going to have a lot more. We've had some bad times, too, and this is one of those times. We'll try to finish well. Good news is we get another opportunity to play this week.
"Obviously the biggest disappointment is the turnovers and that is my responsibility. Defensively we played an amazing first half. Offensively we came out with back to back scores in the second half and then we couldn't get the ball. They had the ball for 13:40 in the fourth quarter. It was a tale of two halves. But again, the turnover margin continues to be a big problem for us. We lead the country in fumbles. We were not efficient at all running the ball. You have to be efficient running it and we were not. And we did not do a good job stopping the run in the fourth. It was our worst game in terms of third down stops. We had a 10-point lead with eight minutes and 30 seconds left and we didn't finish.
"The 80-yard run there early, we had a guy there who was outside and he should have been inside. We had some missed tackles and missed fits on a few other plays. Offensively, the positive was our passing game. We made a lot of big plays, almost 17 yards per completion. Tyler Brown, Briningstool, Antonio, they all made some plays. We had a couple of good drives in the first half but didn't score ... one we have a touchdown if we just hold onto the ball for another millisecond. Weitz hit two big kicks, so that was a positive for us. Obviously the last play was incredibly disappointing.
"We have a huge job to do as coaches. We're down in the valley right now and we have to rally around each other and block out all the noise. If we can put it all together, we can be a good team but we have to play complementary football. Everyone is incredibly disappointed with where we are.
"Injury-wise we have some guys banged up. We'll know more on some guys tomorrow. We'll see how that all plays out."
Q: Cade has come a long way in some areas, but given some of the ball protection issues, is there any consideration to going with Hunter Helms and sitting Cade?
SWINNEY: "No. Cade gives us the best chance to win. We really believe that. His good is really good. We just have to grow through some growing pains with him. I really believe he's going to be a great one. Just definitely some miscues as well. We have to grow through it with him right now. That's where we are. He gives us the best chance."
Q: On the last play where Cade contradicted your call, did Deshaun or Trevor ever do that?
SWINNEY: "There was no green light. That's just a handoff call. There was no other option. You have to play within the system. It was perfectly blocked. The only guy left was the safety and we needed just six inches. For whatever reason he pulled it.
"That guy is busting his butt and trying to make a play. I don't have any problem with his will to win and effort and toughness, but you just have to play within the system. There are times when you have those green lights but that was not one of those times. He'll learn from it."
Q: Looking back on the five sacks Miami got, what did those come down to?
SWINNEY: "It was mostly on the offensive line. We didn't protect well and didn't pick up the twist game well at all. Mostly the offensive line ... just a poor job. We didn't play as well as we needed to right there."
Q: Both Cristobal and Guidry said last week that the tempo of North Carolina got to them. Was there some thought to doing that last night?
SWINNEY: "Yes. We had a few tempo plays built in. Maybe we could have done more. They were really challenging us from a man standpoint, so we weren't as efficient with it. Definitely something we'd like to do more of."
Q: Going back to the offensive line, you said you wanted to watch the film last night. Now that you've seen it, was it as bad as everyone says at first glance? Is it just technique? Is it something else?
SWINNEY: "Really just struggled at one spot. We had some miscues. It's never perfect anywhere in the ofensive line but it was mostly one spot where we have to clean up some things. We had a couple of penalties that we needed to eliminate. We have to look at our personnel and we have a couple of guys who need to play better. We need to put our best foot forward there. When you lose the way we lost, everything gets magnfied as it should. And we've played better but I thought that was probably our worst game in one or two spots there."
Q: How do you evaluate right guard now?
SWINNEY: "Inconsistent."
Q: Your postgame comment about the team psychologist being on suicide watch has gotten some attention. Did you want to clarify that?
SWINNEY: "That was such a poor attempt at humor on my part. Not something I should say. I absolutely apologize for that. We're very deliberate in what we do around here in prioritizing things, mental health, for our students. I apologize for that for sure."
Q: You've been complimentary of Xavier Thomas for a year in terms of attitude and maturity. How surprised were you about what transpired?
SWINNEY: "Just disappointed that we had to deal with it. You want your best players out there. It is what it is. We have rules and we have consequences for those rules. He'll be back tomorrow and we'll get him back going."
Q: With the run schemes, with Garrett the guard-tackle counters are a big part of it. Regarding the evaluation of your run game, how have you performed there versus the zone schemes?
SWINNEY: "Some of our biggest plays have come off zones and some off gap schemes. We've been a pretty good rushing team. We had over 200 in the first game and even in the Florida State game we were effective and efficient. Some games you'll have to throw the ball more but again we still have to be efficient and we weren't. That's something we track from a quality control standpoint. We definitely have room for improvement there. We've been good enough to win. If we can just get out of this turnover situation, I think we can be a tough team to beat."
Q: Does it feel like the accumulation of the turnover baggage is starting to pile up some? The more it happens, is there more pressure there to avoid it?
SWINNEY: "Probably, from a psychological standpoint. I think that's human nature. We just have to keep battling. You put the ball in your best players' hands and it's my responsibility to help them get over the hump. No one is trying harder. As I've said many times, that worm will eventually turn. It's just very unfortunate. It is what it is. There is nothing we can do about it at this point. You have to go play and finish drives. Our turnovers have been catastrophic. It has been a real problem for us. I hate it but we're going to get better.
"We're in the valley right now. Winners grow stronger and overcome. We have a bunch of people who care. We care deeply. We work our butts off. I've come in here for 15 years, giving everything I've got. I've been in moments like this many times in my career as a coach and a player . As a competitor, you keep going. My sophomore year at Alabama, we started out 0-3 and ended up in the Fiesta Bowl.
"The people involved really understand what the issues are. There isn't one thing within our team that isn't fixable. If we were just getting blown out, that would be different. We've been in position to win every single game. We've just had a couple of issues we haven't been able to shake to this point. But I believe in our players. I have no doubt we'll have a lot of great days ahead.
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"Winning is hard, man. It is really, really hard. When you turn the ball over, worst in the country, it gets even harder. We've had an overtime loss and another one in double overtime. That's pretty miraculous in itself. If we can find a way to help these guys get through that, we'll get back on the right side of things. And it'll happen. It'll happen. We just have to hang tough and fight through it."
Q: You said earlier you'll have to wait for more (injury) info on some guys tomorrow. What about Antonio?
SWINNEY: "Yeah, Antonio will probably be out. His ankle is fine. It's a toe issue. He'll probably be out for a little while. So he's out and we lost Cole. Obviously Walker Parks was lost, too. I hate it for Antonio, but he got tackled funny and hurt his toe. Hopefully he'll be back, but we'll see how he progresses these next couple of weeks."
Q: Anyone else out?
SWINNEY: "Not that I can say is out of the game right now."
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