Dabo Swinney, like the rest of the college football world, saw the number of upsets that took place across the sport last weekend. Five of the top 11 AP poll teams suffered stunning defeats, and eighth-ranked Miami (FL) overcame a 25-point deficit, narrowly avoiding the same fate as Alabama, Tennessee and Michigan.
According to Swinney, weekends like that are great lessons for his players and it’s why he focuses on “playing to a standard.”
“College football did us a favor,” Swinney said, “(Consistency) is a hard thing to establish. These are kids. You’ve got to show up and play every single week. And that’s why we talk about playing to a standard. Don’t play to an opponent, don’t play to a record. Like last week, ‘oh, they’re 1-4.’ You get caught up in that and you’re getting beat.”
Clemson (4-1, 3-0) is looking to make it five wins in a row since the season-opening loss to Georgia. It can’t be denied that the Tigers have played well over the last four games, but Swinney would like his club to string together four consecutive quarters of good football, “I want to see us play a complete game. I think we’ve done that in spurts, we’ve been really, really good, but not consistent enough for four quarters. We’ve got a lot of room for improvement.”
One area Swinney pinpointed for improvement is finishing off drives. The Tigers racked up 500 yards against Florida State, but too often settled for field goal attempts instead of putting the game out of reach.
Clemson will try to take another step forward and extend its winning streak over Wake Forest to sixteen when the game kicks off from Winston-Salem, NC at noon, Saturday.
Key comments from Dabo Swinney
- Wake Forest is going to take shots down the field and we’re going to have to win 50-50 balls …. QB is impressive. Every year, they have one of the best WR groups we see. They understand their RPO scheme and their WRs run great routes and finish plays
- On WR Antonio Williams: He’s always been skilled. Gave him a lot of hard coaching because he had to learn how to be a complete player and play hard all the time. I’ve been saying since January, he’s one of our best leaders. He’s a product of hard work and buying in
- On wide receiver room: We’ve got a lot of competition and flexibility. We’re able to bring the young guys up at a healthy pace. Good room and good depth that’s been a couple of years in the works
- Great receivers impact game without the ball. Maybe you play 30 plays, catch 2 TDs, everyone is telling you how great you are, but you didn’t grade out a winner. You’re asking more of your teammates than you’re giving. We want complete players
- On QB Cade Klubnik’s improvement: I think he’s got 185 yds rushing in last four games. More than all of last year. More savvy running the ball. The game has slowed down for him. Very confident and sees field well. Bad plays don’t affect him. He comes back and corrects it
- I love two-sport athletes. A lot of skill crossover. Some basketball players have turned into great WRs (talks about Mike Williams and DeAndre Hopkins. Says Hopkins was a “hooper.”). Some DEs, too (talks about Jaheim Lawson and Shaq Lawson. Says Shaq was a beast on the basketball court)