CLEMSON: Clemson plays its ACC opener Saturday afternoon at Georgia Tech in a game that should give an indication just how much the Tigers have improved since their week one loss to LSU.
Head coach Dabo Swinney insists the offense is just a tick off here and there from being really good. The defense and special teams are playing well, according to Swinney, with the play of the special teams one of the pleasant surprises of the season to date.
Though Clemson trails in the series with 36 wins in 89 meetings, the Tigers have won the last nine against the Yellow Jackets, and only a 14-8 win in 2021 was a competitive game.
Clemson is 1-1 and had to rally from a 16 point deficit last Saturday to defeat Troy at home. Georgia Tech is 2-0 after a win at Colorado and a blow out of Gardner-Webb at home. Clemson is averaging 288 yards and 18 points per game while Tech averages 571 yards and 43 points per game. Defensively, Clemson is allowing 328 yards and 16 points per game, and Tech is yielding 315 yards and 16 points per game.
Key comments from Dabo Swinney
- Very impressed with Tech, their offense puts a lot of straight on you with what they run. Defensively, Tech doesn’t give up a lot of big plays.
- Tech is big and strong up front on defense. Looking forward to going to Atlanta and having great competition.
- Pretty much every snap by Tech there is motion, lot of eye candy, lot of quarterback power, basically a triple option scheme from the spread formation. It’s all about the QB. He makes it go because he’s the decision maker.
- Georgia Tech makes you defend the field sideline to sideline and then they have the shock play built in with play action.
- With his offense, they have been poor with the routine stuff, need to clean up the execution part, haven’t played with great rhythm. They have too many cases of nine of 11 guys doing their job on a given play.
- Adam Randall showed his toughness, his heart and his will to win in the Troy game. He needs to work on his timing when it comes to running behind his blockers and on counters, also improving his footwork.
- Klubnik has been running too much, he has scrambled when he didn’t need to scramble, like he did in his early years, didn’t do that in camp, was really bad with that in LSU game.
- This is a great opportunity and if you’re going to be a great team you have to win on the road. And every conference game is a playoff game. You lose one and the wind is in you face. Best path to CFP is to win all your conference games.
- First two teams they’ve played have not held the ball in the passing game, quarterbacks have had quick throws and screens, they’ve got to be better on the perimeter.
- They’ve missed Antonio Williams. He’s the best player they have. He’s special.
- Offensive performance after two games reminds him of the first part of 2016 when they struggled early. This is the first time this team has had to deal with a lot of criticism and scrutiny because of a high ranking, lot of rat poison.
- If they continue like they have been playing on offense, they won’t win many games. Liked how his team continued to play against Troy and rallied to win.
- Smith has been really good punting, says the media have been waiting for him to shank a punt so they can roll out the criticism. He feels like he has three good punters.
- Feels the tight ends have been a real bright spot for them, steady, with more to come.