Editor’s Note: For the entire press conference, listen to the full audio with Dabo Swinney attached at the top of the page.
Opening statement:
"Okay, well, just congratulations to Syracuse. They earned it, won the game and wish those guys well the rest of the season. Obviously, an incredibly disappointing outcome and start to our season. I mean, there's just no other way to say it. I mean, just a lot of pain. I've been in a lot of painful locker rooms — that was up there near the top.
My heart just hurts for our team and our fans. I thought our fans showed up today, did a great job. We just didn't get it done. It's incredibly frustrating. We just can't seem to get on the same page and play complementary football. We can't seem to get it all together.
We kind of work against each other. And the first half, the defense was probably as poor as I've seen. It was really poor, very disappointing. You give up 24 points, you get in a big hole. Offense had really good rhythm and was rolling, but we couldn't get the ball, very limited possessions. So really frustrating first half.”
Q: On the surprise onside kick — were you prepared for it?
Swinney: "Yeah, we talked about it in the huddle. Be ready for the surprise onside, don't leave early. You gotta see it over your head, gotta see it over your head. So, I mean, that's the frustrating thing about it, is we literally said, be prepared for a surprise right here, and they executed it. We're proud of our defense, holding a three, but still stole a possession from us to where we couldn't get the ball."
Q: What did you think of Cade Klubnik today? Did you ever consider going to Christopher Vizzina?
Swinney: "No, we didn't. I thought Cade competed his butt off. And he certainly missed a couple plays, but he made some good ones too. Made a lot of good ones. I thought he was good in the first half, and just again, couldn't really get the ball. And no, we did not think about that."
Q: Syracuse didn’t really run the ball much coming in, but they had success in the first half. How did that happen against your defensive line?
Swinney: "That's a good question. That's what we were talking about in the halftime in there. It's blocked us. Didn't get off blocks, tackle, we didn't tackle great. But they responded, they did a heck of a job the second half."
Q: What can you key in on for the offensive struggles?
Swinney: "I mean, the first half was just opportunity. I mean, they were pretty good with the opportunity we had, 240 yards and 14 points. In the second half, just finishing critical plays. It's the third time in the history of Clemson to have 500 plus yards and lose. So that's not a stat you wanna be on that side of it. So, it's points. It's just finishing critical plays in critical times.
Q: Is that play calling, execution?
Swinney: It's all of the above, it's everything. Critical execution at critical times, play calling, you name it. It's all that, it's everything."
Q: At the end of the first half, how did you feel about the game management, not being able to kick a field goal?
Swinney: "Yeah, we had the right play. We were gonna kick a field goal. We thought Adam [Randall] had gotten out right there on the far side, but he didn't. But we had plenty of time, we had the right call. We had a little hitch, and we're gonna kick a field goal, but we dropped it. So again, that's one of those critical moments, one of those critical plays that you don't ever know. We catch the ball, get out of bounds right there. It's gonna be, I think it's gonna be 49 or 50 yard or maybe. Got a chance to kick a field goal.
For the entire press conference, listen to the full audio with Dabo Swinney attached at the top of the page.
