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Editor’s note: Rough highlights from Dabo Swinney’s Press Conference earlier today. The full video is available above.
1. On the importance of eye discipline vs. Tech’s offense
Q: The physical battle is always important on the line of scrimmage, defensive line, but given how much they play with your eyes, is the middle maybe just as important—keeping their eyes in the right places?
Swinney: “Yeah. Eye discipline is critical… These guys, pretty much every snap there’s a shift, there’s a motion, there’s some type of jet… So it’s basically a triple-option scheme from spread formations… But it’s all about the quarterback. He makes it go because he’s the decision-maker.”
2. On Georgia Tech’s two quarterbacks
Q: Does it concern you also—especially if you look back at the Miami game last year against them, they used two quarterbacks… do you have to prepare for both guys?
Swinney: “Anytime you see two quarterbacks in a game on tape, that puts your antenna up a little bit. We just have to do a great job taking care of our business.”
3. On Clemson’s offensive struggles
Q: What’s been the biggest reason for some of the offensive struggles with Cade and the rest of the offense?
Swinney: “Routine stuff. Just a really poor job with routine stuff. Routine stuff. It’s really that simple.”
4. On fixing those issues
Q: How do you make sure that routine stuff is fixed for this game?
Swinney: “Practice. That’s the frustrating part—it hasn’t shown up in practice.”
5. On offensive identity in games vs. practice
Q: You’ve talked about a very defined identity offensively. What have you seen in practice that was the identity of Clemson?
Swinney: “Right now, it’s not very good. It’s early, though. We’ll see.”
Q: What have you seen in practice?
Swinney: “Very productive. Elite quarterback play. Explosive receivers. Really good run game.”
6. On Adam Randall’s performance vs. Troy
Q: Having some time to review the film, what stood out about Adam Randall against Troy?
Swinney: “His toughness, his will to win, his heart, his physicality… Adam did some really good stuff, but I think just a little more precision in his footwork and the timing and the feel.”
7. On Cade Klubnik’s scrambling
Q: Has Cade been as much of a factor with his legs as envisioned in those two games?
Swinney: “No, he hasn’t. He’s been too much of a factor with his legs. He’s scrambled when he doesn’t need to scramble.”
8. On the message for the ACC road opener
Q: What’s the message heading into a game like this—the ACC opener, Tech has a huge home crowd—what’s the message?
Swinney: “Where your focus goes, your energy flows, right? Every conference game is a playoff game.”
9. On the team’s mentality after two games
Q: How is this team handling the mental and emotional side after these first two games?
Swinney: “You saw the grit of our team—the heart of our team—the resilience of these guys. Courage.”
10. On Antonio Williams’ absence
Q: On that injury, how much has the flow of the offense been missing Antonio [Williams] to date?
Swinney: “He’s our best player. It’s that simple. He’s the best player we’ve got. He’s special.”
11. On echoes of 2016 and “rat poison”
Q: Is this the most surprised you’ve been that camp performance offensively hasn’t translated?
Swinney: “I feel like I’m living 2016 all over again, honestly. This group hasn’t had the rat poison—they’ve had the ‘you suck’ poison.”
12. On urgency moving forward
Q: If the diagnosis for the 2016 team was wanting to hit the fast-forward button to play Alabama again, do you know enough yet to diagnose the reasons behind the current?
Swinney: “Our execution—the precision and the details—it’s just not what it needs to be. We better be on point this Saturday. This will be a battle.”
