Dabo Swinney sends message to both sides of the ball heading into conference play
On the road in a hostile environment, Clemson had the chance to take the life out of the crowd with one play before halftime.
The Tigers had the ball inside the 10-yard line and were a few feet away from a 21-3 lead after Adam Choice set up a fourth-and-goal opportunity.
In came Dabo Swinney’s jumbo package of Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins along with the big bodies on the offensive line. Clemson was not able to convert on that one play before half after an errant snap under center blew the entire play up.
Swinney was a little ticked after the game. It was one of those mistakes that kept Clemson’s 28-26 win over Texas A&M so close when it didn’t need to be.
Fast-forward to Clemson’s game at home against Georgia Southern and you had a similar situation. The Tigers were marching down the field on consecutive drives but weren’t able to get any points to show for it.
A few mistakes cost them points, but Clemson found itself back on the doorstep of the end zone. Unlike at College Station, Clemson had a first-and-goal opportunity from inside the two.
The goal-to-go situation went like this:
Tavien Feaster rush for one yard to the one.
Feaster rush for no gain.
Travis Etienne rush for no gain.
Etienne finally scores from one yard out.
Four plays to get just over one yard. Against Georgia Southern. A starting offensive line unit that got pummeled pretty well against Alabama in 2017 wasn’t showing the fight Swinney wanted in that situation.
Clemson amassed almost 600 yards of offense, 309 of those yards came on the ground. There were plenty of good things to take away from the game, but being unable to finish drives was beginning to be a recurring theme that Swinney wanted no part of.
“I was a little frustrated it took us four plays to get one yard on the goal line,” Swinney admitted.
So the head coach decided to send a message. It was time to make a substitution.
Not for just one player, in particular. But the entire starting offensive line.
The second unit brought a little bit of juice with it. A chip on their shoulder - and a hunger to go with it - and Clemson marched right down the field the next two drive for scores.
They finished.
“I just wasn’t real happy right there so I put the other guys in. It’s that simple,” Swinney said. “sometimes you got to get people’s attention. You want to make sure they are hungry. When you’re hungry, you don’t leave chicken on the bone. We left too much chicken on the bone today.
“It’s that simple. If we are going to be a championship team, we gotta take advantage of our opportunities that are there and be relentless about it.”
The second-team defensive line came in at the end of the game to finish off what was a solid performance. On Clemson’s final two drives, it scored with relative ease. The first drive being a two-play, 46-yard drive highlighted by Etienne’s 40-yard exclamation point.
The last drive was 6-play, 73-yard drive led by Chase Brice filled with a balance of runs and passes. Adam Choice’s 10-yard touchdown run made the final score 38-7.
The offensive line wasn’t the only unit Swinney wanted to get his message across to.
After the Eagles scored in two plays to make it 24-7, Georgia Southern got the ball back and started putting together a drive on the ground. Clemson’s backup defensive line was in and saw seven consecutive plays of positive yardage from Georgia Southern’s offense that only got 140 yards total.
There was that word again - finish.
Clemson’s defense had to hold on for dear life in Texas as the Aggies cut through their defense like butter. They did manage to leave that game feeling like they were able to make one more play when needed to but had a hard time finishing what they started after not allowing a touchdown in the first half.
So Swinney saw enough of what his second team was doing on defense late against Georgia Southern. And back in came the group you’ve probably seen on a few magazine covers.
For the next three plays, Clemson’s front pushed them back every time making three consecutive plays in the backfield. Two consecutive sacks from Clelin Ferrell and Austin Bryant sent the Eagles packing.
The unit was able to finish on the highest note possible.
“We’re not going to finish like this,” Swinney told his team. “I want all those guys to play. I want all those guys to get better. But I just want to make sure that we came out of this game with the mindset that we needed to go play conference ball.”
After Clemson’s third victory of the season, none of which were perfect performances, the Tigers find themselves traveling back to Atlanta undefeated just as they were in 2016.
Clemson has opened its season 3-0 for the fourth straight season and the seventh time in the last eight years. The next goal on the table is to win the division for the fourth straight season.
The Tigers aren’t going to be able to accomplish that next goal unless they finish what they start. That’s why Swinney wanted to send a clear message in front of 79,000 people.
“They were pretty disappointed with how they finished last week,” Swinney added. “We wanted to make sure we came out of this thing and finish better. And we did.”