CLEMSON: Clemson will host Troy of the Sun Belt Conference on Saturday afternoon, but after the prerequisite opening statement expressing his respect for the Trojans, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney focused his comments on why his team lost to LSU at home last Saturday.
Swinney did not hold back in his assessment, saying his best player, quarterback Cade Klubnik, has got to play better. And that he and offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, have to do a better job of getting players around Klubnik to play better. And the secondary has to play better.
Swinney said the game was there for his team to take, but they did not do the little things well that win you ballgames, whether it was a misread by Klubnik, dropped balls by receivers or failed blocking assignments.
Clemson is 2-0 against Troy and 13-0 all-time against teams from the Sun Belt. The Trojans had to rally in the fourth quarter Saturday to win their opener against Nichols. They will be a physical, run heavy team on offense, according to Swinney. Clemson is favored by 32 points for the 3:30 PM kickoff.
Key comments from Swinney:
- This is a different Troy team on offense compared to recent teams, more personnel groupings than any team they will play, they run the football, and old school approach, a challenge for the defense, had better want to tackle.
- Troy plays a physical brand of football and his guys had better be ready to meet the challenge, they have some guys who can run on defense, guys off the edge catch your eye.
- Antonio Williams and Khalil Barnes are day to day with their injuries. Walker Parks should be good to go Saturday.
- Biggest issue in the LSU loss was their best player, Klubnik, did not play well, but he will bounce back, came down to a last shot and they didn’t make it, knows more about his team now, has a lot more confirmation on what his team is.
- Klubnik did not do routine stuff well, it’s not complicated, he knows that was the case and he will respond and bounce back, he had a bad day to have a bad day.
- Really proud of defense in LSU game, played hard, played physical, he went for it twice on fourth down and had two drops, on last play, Tyler Brown was wide open for tying touchdown but Klubnik took off running.
- They didn’t even try in the running game vs LSU, didn’t give it a chance, no regrets playing a big time opponent to open the season, learned a lot about his team. Two really good teams, both will have good years.
- He and Riley didn’t do a very good job helping Klubnik, that’s something they have to improve, Klubnik created a lot of the pressure that was in his face because he held the ball too long, also made some bad reads.
- “If two is not a dude, we ain’t winning. A dude has to be a dude.” If coming out of that game the best player didn’t play his best, they will be alright.
- The defensive line and the linebackers did their job as expected, the rest of them, throw mud at them.
- Missed opportunities killed them, should have been 17-3 after opening drive of second half but last three plays of that drive were bad, and then they missed the field goal.
- They’ve got to get better on defense turning red zone touchdowns into field goals, that’s a big area of concern coming out of the LSU game.
- Kobe McCloud is the next one in line to get snaps at linebacker behind the starters.
- The lack of using the running game in the second half is on the coaches, that was their fault.