Swinney says Tigers are getting healthy, now turn attention to dangerous FSU team

The Tigers are on to a road trip to FSU.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Oct 09 18:45:55 GMT-04:00 2022

Clemson left Boston 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the ACC, and the Tigers are getting healthy at a critical time and are battle tested. Now all thoughts turn to next weekend’s game at Florida St.

Clemson defeated Boston College 31-3 Saturday night in Chestnut Hill and arrived back home around 6 AM. Head coach Dabo Swinney said he is proud of the way his team has handled adversity.

“Great to be able to go up there and get a big win. Always a tough place to play and just really proud of our team,” Swinney said during his Sunday teleconference. “They're just continuing to prepare each week and battle. We're certainly not perfect in any stretch of the imagination, but their efforts, their will to win, their belief that they can win, just how they've handled adversity within games and also some of the success within games, I just see us growing and really proud of where they are right now.

“We're 6-0, and there's not many teams out there that can say that. And these guys, I think, have really been battle tested. And again, another big win on the road. We've had three of those already, and none bigger than the one we got this week because it's the one we're playing and excited about that. But overall, I thought the defense was just outstanding, which is good because our last road game at Wake Forest we played our worst game, and this was by far our best game.”

Swinney said he was proud of the play in the trenches.

“We won the line of scrimmage, fewest points since 1952, 1.1 a rush. We had a bunch of TFLs and four sacks. We had a bunch of hurries. They were only 47% completion, which is really good because obviously that's the biggest area we need to improve,” Swinney said. “I think that we took a step forward, especially with some guys out. Just pleased with that. We got a big stop on downs, great job on third down, and we've only given up three points off turnovers all year, so I'm really proud of that.

“Obviously had a bad turnover and put them on a short field and they go out there and they missed the kick, and then we had no red zone touchdowns, which was good. So a lot of good things defensively. Biggest thing we got to improve on is we had some third and long a couple of times early where they were able to extend drives and create really poor field position. We have to get the quarterback down.”

Swinney then said the offense still has work to do.

“Protection was good, held the ball, but disappointing aare the two offside penalties. But just again, not our best game offensively, but we did what we needed to do to win the game and beat a tough opponent and that's three tough weeks in a row,” Swinney said. “So again, the name of the game is winning. We got it done and did some good things on special teams. Field goal continues to be good. I love the effort we're playing with on field goal block. We got another one. Our kickoff coverage and punt coverage was really good once again. And then we've had two weeks in a row where we've had something in the return game. Obviously disappointed with the muffed punt and then we had one bad punt. Other than that, I thought Aidan (Swanson) did a solid job for us.

“We're at the halfway point. We have definitely improved as a team from where we were when we started and we got a lot of guys some experience. We're getting healthier. We got a bunch of guys to hopefully be back this week. But to be able to go up there and play the way we did with the amount of guys that had to miss the game, I'm proud of our team for still just staying focused and finding a way.”

Next up is a Florida St. team that has dropped two in a row after a 4-0 start, but Swinney expects the Seminoles’ best effort.

“It'll be a great environment. It will be rocking. It's always been, especially when it's Clemson-Florida State, it's always been a great crowd, a spirited crowd and a tough matchup,” Swinney said. “Tough place to play for sure, and we definitely don't expect anything less. But I've had an opportunity to see them already throughout the year just on some crossover stuff, just being able to see both sides of the ball in our preparation. Just for example, BC, obviously they played them at home there. So Mike (Norvell) has done a great job. They've recruited, they've got some guys in there that have given them immediate help when they needed it. Quarterback is a special player.

“He's dynamic, we saw that last year. He's a very confident thrower. They've got some excellent receivers, great backs. They got three transfers in that offensive line that shore that up. Same thing over on the defensive side. So it is a very, very good football team and incredibly competitive. They've had two really tough losses to good teams and they've had a chance to win both of those games. So it's a team that can beat anybody really on any given day. So we'll have to play well, we'll have to play much better as a team than we did this past week to have a chance going under win this game.”