Editor’s Note: The following is a full, lightly edited transcript of Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney’s postgame press conference following the Tigers’ 35–24 home loss to SMU. Filler words and repeated phrases have been removed for clarity, but all quotes are presented exactly as spoken.
Dabo Swinney:
“Congratulations to Rhett and SMU. I thought they outplayed us. They earned it, deserved to win the game, and they made some big plays when they needed to have them.
For our team, the one positive, I thought they competed their butts off to the end. Really appreciate that. They fought, never quit. You know, down a few guys, but we had enough to compete to go win the game, and we just didn’t get it done. But we had opportunities.
First of all, I thought Christopher Vizzina got better and better as the game went, and, you know, a pass efficiency of 156. I mean, just 300-something yards and three touchdowns, no interceptions, had a big drive there at the end, which was really gritty on his part. I was really proud to see that.
He’s really not played any, you know, game-on-the-line meaningful type of plays. You know, he redshirted his first year, and then last year we had a lot of close games, just didn’t get a lot of opportunity and hadn’t had much this year, so in a meaningful situation. So that was a positive.
I thought he got better. I thought he hung in there and competed his butt off. We didn’t help him.
We had zero run game. It was incredibly disappointing, really disappointing, because we needed to help him with that, and we gave up some sacks that we hadn’t been giving up. So I think you've got to give them some credit on that. We didn’t help him with the run game, and again, I thought he competed his butt off.
First half, just the short-yardage misses was the story of the game. Just critical missed opportunities there, and then we had a drop on third-and-one. Second half, offensively, I thought we were better and got some things going.
And got the score there—really good execution on the hard count and getting kind of a free play and throwing it up to Tristan [Smith] and put the ball where he needed to put it. We talked about that’s where we were going to go with it and give him a chance—I mean, kind of like a last-play-of-the-game situation—so good to see him execute that. And, but, you know, we just couldn’t get the ball back when we needed it.
I thought defensively the first half really played pretty dang good. The 70-yard touchdown, we were in Cover 3. I mean, nothing gets simpler than that. We just come out of coverage. We’ve got no middle safety, and so it’s really frustrating. So that was the 70-yard touchdown, but I thought they really did a heck of a job of holding them down in the first half, and we held them to some field goals, and man, oh, man, you know, they were not very good in the field goal coming into the game—I think they were maybe 132nd in the country—and it looked like Lou Groza out there. I mean, those three kicks were bombs.
And, but, defensively, I thought they did a good job of hanging in there and giving us a chance because we were kind of in our own way offensively and didn’t play like we needed to in the first half. But the second half, just very disappointing. You know, too many big plays. The big play—I thought we gave up too much on first down at times. The big play on the option, we didn’t leverage the ball. The big play on the tight end cross, which is, you know, the quarterback—that’s what he can—he buys time, buys time, and he hits the tight end on the touchdown, and then we just have a busted coverage on man coverage. You know, I got him, you got him, and so we’re not on the same page there.
But, you know, again, with everything going on, we got four timeouts left, and it’s a five-point game. We’re 6:44 to play, and we just need a stop, and when we needed a stop, we couldn’t get it. And listen, you got to give SMU credit. Give them credit. Their kids made the plays, their quarterback made the plays, their receivers made the play, they made the calls, and we didn’t. That’s why you get beat.
So we had every opportunity. They go 13 plays, 75 yards. We had a big penalty on fourth down when we get a stop, so we didn’t deserve to win the game, and it’s just as simple as that.
But there’s—I thought another positive is our special teams. You know, I mean, Jack Smith continues to really do a heck of a job. Our coverage has been really good. You know, we made the field goal again, gave ourselves a chance. I mean, there was a lot of opportunity in the game.
So, but at the end of the day, just another really disappointing day here at home. So, but, you know, we got to pick ourselves up and keep going. That’s what we’re going to do. There ain’t no quit in this bunch. That’s one thing I’ll say about this team. It hurts, but there’s no quit. We’re going to fight our butts off to the end, and then we’ll count them all up, and then we’ll—you know, it’s a season, and right now it’s not been anywhere near the season that we want.
Personally, I feel like I’m living 2010 all over again. That’s what I feel like. We just can’t seem to quite put it together and get out of our way. But it’s football. It’s football. But we’ll keep going. We’ll bounce up. We’ll pick ourselves up, and got a lot of guys out.
I mean, you know, I don’t have any info on Bryant Wesco right now. It was a pretty serious deal. I have no information on him right now. Just have to wait and see. Just praying—really praying—for him.
And, you know, we did get an initial report on Collin Sadler. It was negative, so that is a positive—at least that’s some good news, you know, as far as negative meaning not broken or any of that stuff. So that’s a positive on his ankle.
And, but, you know, just Cade [Klubnik] tried. I mean, I’ve never had a guy try as hard as him to be able to play. I mean, he truly did everything that he could to give himself a chance, but just couldn’t push off like he needed to. But again, I thought Vizzina came in there and competed, and in the long run, that’ll be a positive for him—something that he can build on and grow some confidence from as well. But again, disappointing, but that’s where we are.
So we got another open date coming up, which certainly from an injury standpoint hopefully will help us. And, you know, it’s not going to get any easier. Every game’s tough. Every game’s going to be a battle, and we got to find a way to see if we can win the next one.
Q: Coach, it seemed like early on Christopher Vizzina needed something to make kind of him comfortable, and he really developed a rapport with T.J. Moore. How important was it for him to get that first long touchdown pass? Because it really seemed to settle him down, and that really kind of became a recurring theme throughout the game and was really there for him.
Dabo Swinney: “Well, we dropped the touchdown. He made a great throw to Wesco, and we dropped it. That could be really frustrating, but I thought he showed a lot of grit coming back just about a couple plays later, and he makes a beautiful throw to T.J. So there were some positives. I just wish we’d have helped him with the run game a little bit more. We did not protect quite as well as we are capable of protecting. Then I think there are some things we could have helped him, you know, play-call-wise, too. But I thought he competed his butt off and grew throughout the game. He’ll gain a lot. We didn’t get the result that he wanted, but he’ll grow from it for sure, no doubt about it.
I told him 17 years ago was my first day to coach, and, you know, I got beat. I’m still going. Maybe some people don’t like that, but I’m still going, and he didn’t get the result he wanted, but he’ll grow from it. He’ll get better. It’ll make him better.”
Q: Coach, obviously, Cade didn’t suit up today. We saw him on the sideline trying to stay involved, be a leader. How important was he in helping Vizzina throughout the course of the game?
Dabo Swinney: “He was awesome all week. He really was. I mean, truly, when I say he did everything he could—I mean, like, that kid was in the building till midnight. He was up there around the clock doing everything he could. But, I mean, he was his biggest fan, biggest supporter, and doing everything he could to just encourage him and help him. That’s football, though, man. You hate it, but we win as a team. We lose as a team, and we’ll move forward as a team.
Q: What do you think the primary reason the run game has struggled so far?
Dabo Swinney: “Yeah, I mean, I need to watch the tape. I mean, you know, we’ve done some good things, but we just—I know the first third down, I think a tight end didn’t get his block. Just not very precise today in some things. We had a counter call to the right, and it really is a good call. They’ve got a nine-technique. It really should gash them, but I think we didn’t pull as tight as we needed to, and number 1 beats us underneath and blows it up. So there was just some little detail stuff. So I’ll see the tape, and we’ll go from there, but it wasn’t near good enough for what it needed to be.”
Q: It’s been a calendar year since y’all beat a conference team at home. How jarring is that just to hear and to process?
Dabo Swinney: “Yeah, jarring, disappointing. It is what it is. I mean, got to do better.”
Q: What changes do you feel like you need to make to get the most out of this season, specifically going forward from now?
Dabo Swinney: “We just got to focus on, you know, just going back to work, and just watch the tape, and let’s see what we got to do better—fundamentally, technically, play-call, you know, if there’s any personnel stuff. You know, that’s what you do—just go to the next game. That’s all we can do. And, you know, try to get some guys healthy. But we just got to go to the next one. That’s all we can do.”
Q: Coach, you mentioned during this open date that you’re going to take the time for your injured players to recover. What else are you going to do to really get set up for your matchup against Duke?
Dabo Swinney: “From an injury standpoint, it’s not really relax and recover—it’s more just time to recover, you know, hope we get some guys back. But, you know, we’ll work all week. We’ll work on Clemson, we’ll work on Duke. They got an open date as well, so the last time we had an open date, North Carolina had an open date as well, so, you know, we’re really gaining an advantage—you know, there’s no other—they’re not playing next week like we are. But, I mean, just reset and put your eyes on the next one. I mean, we can’t look five weeks from now, we can’t look back—we just truly got to pick ourselves up, stay together, and let’s watch the tape, and let’s see what we can do better, coaching and playing, and have great practice, and get a little head start on the plan so you’re further ahead when you get to next Monday, certainly. But just got to try to improve in all areas.
Q: When you talk about how you’re still waiting on that complementary football game—saw some shades of it in the last two road games—today the defense, again, just did everything they could and just kind of ran out of steam, ran out of juice at the end. What’s your overall thought on how to finally get all sides working as you want?
Dabo Swinney: “Yeah, it’s disappointing, because, you know, that’s what we’ve done these last two ballgames. They’ve played really well—complementary football—and we just didn’t quite get it done today. Like, when we got a stop on defense in the first half, we just—we needed to go get one more score, and we just—we didn’t get it done in the run game. So again, we’ll look at the tape and watch the blocks and see what we got to do. And give them credit—I think they deserve credit. Thought they were active—those two big guys were active inside—and did a good job. But, you know, like I said, I need to see the tape to really have a clear vision of what we got to do better there.
Reporter: On the third-and-one where you called a pass, did you call that knowing you were probably going to go for it on fourth down if it was incomplete?
Dabo Swinney: “Yeah, yeah, pretty much. I mean, you know, we thought we had—I mean, you know, that’s one of those hindsight-20/20—probably go back and say, hey, let’s just get the first down. But Garrett loved the call. I mean, it’s what we had put in practice, and it was the look, and it was a heck of a throw, and we just didn’t make the play. I mean, put it right on the money. I mean, so that’s football. We’ve been aggressive these last two ballgames. It was an aggressive call, but he really liked it, and, you know, it was there. We didn’t make the play.
Reporter: Coach, it seemed like as time went on with Vizzina playing that he started to target more vertically downfield as his time went on. Do you think that was an adjustment by you guys, or just kind of natural progression?
Dabo Swinney: “It was just natural progression—how the game went. And, you know, we obviously had to make some plays, and they didn’t really do much different, honestly. They did play a little bit more cloud, a little bit more robber when they got up, but mostly they were a one-safety defense, and that’s pretty much what they did.”
Q: Do you guys expect Cade back for the Duke game?
Dabo Swinney: “I mean, I hope so, Grace. I don’t know. I mean, again, you know, he wasn’t able to go today, so obviously with two weeks I would think he’s got a much better chance to be ready, but we’ll just have to see how this week goes. I would expect that, but, you know, I don’t know.”
Q: Is it a high ankle sprain?
Dabo Swinney: “It’s not a surgical thing or anything like that. Just got a sore ankle.”
Q: You seem very confident that the process is still working. What would you say to fans that are frustrated with 3-4 and feel like it’s not?
Dabo Swinney: “Well, I can’t—I mean, there’s not much I can say other than just let’s go back to work. This is a tough year to this point, but the year’s not over. So that’s all I can say is, you know, we hopefully have earned a lot of credibility around here. There’s been a lot of great years—a lot of great years—and, but this is a tough one. But we’re going to try to fight our way and finish this thing the very best that we can, and then we’ll start over just like we do every year. You know, that’s what we do every year. We have a great year, we have a tough year—you know, we start over, and then you go back to work. That’s what we’ve always done. And we’ve had a lot of success, you know. But right now we’re not, and, you know, I take the good with the bad. I don’t like it, but that’s just my perspective, and I know something good will come from it. And so I promise you, though, I’ve never worked harder, and I’m going to continue to do everything I can, and we’ll be back. We’ll win more championships. We’ll win more championships, all right? I promise you that. May not happen this year, but we’re going to win more championships. That’s all I can say, and I think we have a track record that demonstrates that. But, certainly I don’t blame them. I’m disappointed, too. We’re all disappointed. We’re incredibly frustrated. That’s where we are, and I take full responsibility for that. But all I can do is keep working and see if we can find a way to win the next game.
Q: Yeah, what’s the status of Tristan Leight right now?
Dabo Swinney: “Yeah, just wasn’t able to go. Same thing. He’s been battling an ankle as well.”
Q: Think he’ll be back?
Dabo Swinney: ”I hope so. Hope so. Elijah, Tristan, Parks—you know, Parks is still kind of gimpy coming back—so got a lot of guys banged up, so certainly that part of it, the open date’s at a good time.
Q: Any update on Sadler—scary injury there to his leg?
Dabo Swinney: “Yeah, the X-ray was negative, so that’s a positive. It’s a negative meaning, you know, it wasn’t broken, so that’s a good thing.”
Q: On Vizzina’s performance—seeing how he performed today in a big start—does that give more confidence toward him as potentially a future starter?
Dabo Swinney: “Sure, yeah. I mean, he got an opportunity to go play and did a good job. He did a lot of good things. Like I said, I mean, threw 300-something yards and three touchdowns and made some big plays. But we’ve seen a lot in practice, and he just hasn’t had a ton of opportunity. Again, we knew his first year—he was 17 years old—we were going to redshirt him, and he got hardly any opportunity. And then last year, a lot of close games, not many opportunities. So this will help him. But we’ve got a lot of confidence in him. We’re going to sign a couple in this class coming in as well. But he competed his butt off today in a tough situation.”
Q: Coach, prior to seeing the tape, what was your assessment in real time on the lines of scrimmage play on both sides?
Dabo Swinney: “Certainly not good enough offensively. I mean, we didn’t run the ball, and we gave up four sacks. The one sack was on our back—we missed a wheel blitz there—but not good enough. I mean, again, I thought we got after them defensively pretty good. In a weird way, we actually did a pretty decent job against that quarterback. I mean, he’s a handful. We did a pretty decent job. We just really gave up some big plays on the back end that we just didn’t need to give up on some basic stuff. So that’s the frustrating thing. But we’ll see the tape. But I thought they competed pretty dang hard, got after them. You know, we did let the back slip through a couple times. I mean, that kid’s fast—6 especially. They got us in some man coverage a couple times. They caught us. So give them some credit for that. But we’ll see the tape.”
Q: Coach, how impactful do you think spreading the ball out in the backfield is across the run game?
Dabo Swinney: “I think you got to have good rhythm. You know, the last couple games especially, we’ve had that. We’ve been better—especially last week, I thought we did a really good job in the run game and got a lot of people involved. But we just never got it going today, and we never created a bunch of rhythm. We didn’t run the ball much, and when we did, we weren’t very effective. So it’s definitely a priority for us, but we didn’t get it done today.”
Q: Coach Swinney, going back to the receiving aspect: T.J. Moore had a great game—he made five receptions for 124. Do you think you’re going to be looking to get more targets down the field for the rest of the season, as well as when Klubnik comes back?
Dabo Swinney: “Yeah, I mean, it’s all about who you play, what they do—what’s the type of coverage. I mean, you want to throw the ball down the field, but you got to have opportunity to do that. And, I mean, we’ve had—I guess it was, what, Wesco last week at BC, and maybe T.J. the week before at North Carolina—so these guys, we’ve had some big games. I mean, Antonio’s had some really good games—he had 100-something all-purpose. We just—you know, today T.J. had some—what a play, what a play on the one-hander. I mean, it was awesome. But he also—we had a chance for a touchdown, and he had a bust, you know, down there. We’re trying to throw him a win ball, and he, you know, inside-releasing, doing his own thing. So that was a missed opportunity, because now we had to end up settling for a field goal right there. But, I mean, T.J.’s done some great things and had a great game today. He did some really, really good stuff. So there’s some positives, but at the end of the day, you want to win the game. We weren’t good enough to win the game. They were just better than us, and that’s just—they earned it. We didn’t earn the win.”
Q: I know you say you don’t have much on Wesco, but has he gone to the hospital?
Dabo Swinney: “Yeah, they took him to the hospital to check him out. It was a pretty serious deal, so keep him in your prayers.”
Q: Is it head or neck?
Dabo Swinney: “I’m not going to speculate on all that. It was just a very serious deal. We were concerned enough to where, hey, we need to take him and get him checked.”
