Talking Tuesday: Dabo Swinney says flush last weekend, focus on Georgia Southern, and don’t give up on the season (AUDIO)

Coming off the worst loss of his head-coaching career, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is focused on the future, not the past. At his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Swinney credited LSU with an excellent performance in the blowout victory Saturday night in Baton Rouge, but insisted his team is not as bad as they played. Swinney implored Clemson fans to stay the course and judge him and his team at the end of the season, not the start.

The Tigers fell 51-10 in Baton Rouge, marking the fifth opener they have lost in the last six years. Coming off of opening losses in those previous four seasons, Clemson is undefeated with an average margin of victory of 52-14.  The last time Clemson started a season 0-2 was 1975.

Clemson has faced Georgia Southern once before in 2018, when the Eagles ran into the buzzsaw that was the Tigers’ 2018 roster. Clemson won 38-7 on the back of Travis Etienne running for 162 yards and two touchdowns on just 16 carries. 

This year’s matchup will not only be Clemson’s home opener, but also its first night game of the season as kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 pm (ACCN) on Saturday night. The Tigers are currently favored by -20.5 points after the line opened at -26.5.

Swinney did not name a starting quarterback for Saturday’s game with Georgia Southern and said Christopher Vizzina and Tait Reynolds will both play. He also confirmed that defensive tackle Markus Strong will likely miss the rest of the season with a lower leg injury, and defensive tackle Vic Burley had been reinstated after his suspension following an August arrest for disorderly conduct. However, Burley will not play this week.

Key Comments By Dabo Swinney

• Obviously, a disappointing first game for us. It did not go anywhere near how we expected it to go for us, but it’s right here right now. It’s a big goal of mine to get back to handling business at home.
• We know a lot about several of the guys on Georgia Southern’s offense. One of which being QB Max Johnson (playing his seventh year of College Football).
• We need to flush last week and get our season back on track to where we want it to be.
• Terry Don Phillips is being honored during the matchup with Georgia Southern. He is one of the great men who changed the course of my life, and I think he changed the course of Clemson.
• DT Markus Strong will have surgery on Thursday and will most likely be out for the season.
• We did not respond very well last year, but did in 2024. The guys showed up with a great response yesterday. We got some really good leaders on this team. My expectation is that they are going to respond.
• I’m not going to get into specifics on how we are going to play our quarterbacks going forward, but they both are going to play. Eventually, something will happen one way or the other
• The line of scrimmage play was terrible on both sides, and it is on us as coaches. The players played hard.
• We didn’t do anything to set the quarterbacks up for success. We played poorly.
• We expect OL Colin Sadler to be back on Saturday.
• I think we got a really good group in the secondary. I think our wideouts were also a bright spot. There were some bright spots embedded in the moment.
• It’s opening day every week. The same enthusiasm I saw last week, I saw again from the team last night.
• It’s either a stepping stone or a stumbling block, and we are going to use it as a stepping stone.
• Christopher Vizzina was solid. He started well with the back shoulder ball to Bryant Wesco Jr. Then, he started pressing and missed a couple of things he hasn’t missed in practice. Tait Reynolds did some solid things too, but nothing was earth-shattering either way.
• We are going to get DT Kourtney Kelly back probably sooner rather than later. He will be a big shot in the arm for us.
• DT Vic Burley has done what he has been asked to do for his punishment, and he has earned the right to come back.
• We were going to put Tait Reynolds in the game regardless. He’s earned the right to go play at this point.
• I don’t regret anything about the offseason construction of the roster. We’ve played one game. They give you 12 games, and at the end of the year you count them up. That question is not fair after one game.

Dabo Swinney Press Conference Previewing Georgia Southern