Clemson continued to roll thru opponents Saturday night with a big win over then seventh ranked Miami. The Tigers are 4-0 and and firmly ranked #1 in the country ahead of Alabama and Georgia. The Tigers built a 21-3 lead late in the first half and didn’t let a Hurricane touchdown off a blocked field goal to close the half distract them. They responded with a 14-0 third quarter to put the game away. RB Travis Etienne and QB Trevor Lawrence shined on offense, and the secondary was outstanding on the defensive side. Sunday night coach Dabo Swinney reviewed the game on a conference call with the media.
Some of Swinney’s key comments:
- Thought they got better, thought it was a game they controlled but made enough mistakes to have an urgency to get better Monday, loved the mindset of his team, played with a lot of confidence, a good performance.
- Thought the offense set the tone for the game with the first two drives, pleased with how they came out of the gate, good balance, lots of guys had chance to tough the ball, really good on third down.
- Playmakers made plays and best players led the way, had a couple of uneccessary penalties, had a turnover, a big drop, protected the quarterback well, couple of errant snaps.
- Dominant effort on defense, guys flying around, loved the edge they played with, thought they had great week of preperation and took it to the field, affected the quarterback and turned them over.
- The defensive backs play on the ball was a good as they’ve had there in a long time, red-zone stop holding them to a field goal was big, had couple of penatiels and some missed tackles, had some guys trying to do too much on some plays.
- Special teams were solid but disappointed with field goal blocks, that’s not been the case in practice or other games, poor execution and technique in blocking. That’s on them as coaches and they’ll get that corrected.
- Best football is still in front of them, they are growing up, things they can be a special group if they continue to improve.
- Georgia Tech is playing with a lot of confidence, much improved, buying in to what they are doing, quarterback making plays, running backs impressive, RPO type of team, defensive playing with a lot more energy, confidence and discipline.
Dabo Swinney Sunday night conference call
