Dabo Swinney Frustrated With Clemson's Red-Zone Struggles, Provides Injury Updates

Editor's Note: The following is a lightly edited transcript of Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney's Sunday teleconference. Minor adjustments have been made for clarity and accuracy. Additional corrections or updates may be made as needed.

Opening Statement

Swinney: Really proud of our team. It's just always a tough place to go win. And just really proud of them for finding a way to win. That's really kind of the epitome of that game, found a way to win it.

Far from perfect, but I do see this team continuing to grow. And I thought they showed a lot of toughness. Good to win a close game. And to have great seasons, you gotta win close games.

So good to see them again on the road, find a way to do that. We never trailed in the game. And again, just a tough, gritty win.

A lot of good things in the special teams. Obviously, Hauser just continues to have an amazing season for us. And a lot of good things. Big critical mistake was the muffed punt. We just, poor decision right there. But certainly something that Wesco will learn from.

And then defensively, red-zone defense and the takeaways was the story of the game for us defensively. We did have four three-and-outs. I think we affected the quarterback and held their best player down. So a lot of good things, plenty we can improve upon.

I thought we, again, had some critical mistakes in the fourth quarter and didn't play as stout as we've played the last maybe three or four games. But again, played really, really good red-zone defense.

And then obviously scoring on the sack, scoop score was a huge play in the game. But plenty to improve on in that area.

Offensively, back-to-back opening drives getting points. I thought we had good balance running and passing, averaged 4.8 a carry. Jarvis was very effective for us, as was Tait. Good to see Wesco have a good game.

And probably the biggest thing, just really frustrated with just missed red-zone touchdown opportunities. That's just where we've just struggled. And it's just kind of some things where we drop the ball, we have a penalty, we get a sack or just some type of mistake that gets us behind the chains.

So disappointed there, but I was really proud of the offense. Four-minute offense to go win the game and to take the air out of it and get to victory offense with two big, big first downs.

I thought Tait, again, continues to show improvement. I love how he attacked down the field.

So there were a lot of positives in the game. But the biggest positive was we found a way to win and get November off to a good start.

And back-to-back road wins, that's never easy. And so excited to be back at home this week and have our Senior Day and have a chance to see if we can keep adding some momentum to our season.

Injury-wise, biggest injury for us was Donovan Starr. He's gonna be out. He'll probably be out for the season. So tough break for us there at a position of need for us with Corian Gipson already being out.

So I hate that for Donovan because he was making a lot of progress and growing. But maybe he's back for postseason, we'll see. But for sure, he'll be out these next few games.

Any questions?

On Replacing Donovan Starr at Nickel

Q: Coach, with Donovan out, who's up next at the nickel for you?

Swinney: Yeah, well, you'll see Branden Strozier. We'll get him more involved. That's what we did in the game. He actually did some good stuff. Obviously had the big missed tackle on a hitch route, tried to tackle high, but he'll be a guy.

And then Marcell Gipson Jr. is the other guy that'll be working in that spot. And then Tink is playing corner and nickel as well.

On Clemson's Red-Zone Struggles

Q: You talked about some of the missed red-zone opportunities. Is that more execution, play-calling? Just what was your assessment of the red zone?

Swinney: It's all the above. I mean, it really is. And it's not—I wish I could tell you it was one thing. But it's just kind of, we just kind of rotate on what it is. And it's frustrating.

Good news is we're moving the ball and we're creating scoring opportunities. The bad news is we're not capitalizing.

It's the first drive, we should have back-shouldered the first ball to T.J. Moore, and we threw it over the top. And then we come back and we're just off. We drop a touchdown. We get a stupid penalty. We have a miscue, maybe.

We had a miscue up front on a twist early in the game when we had first-and-goal. And certainly a couple calls we'd like to have back as well.

So it's a combination of a little bit of everything. Just not the type of crisp execution and precision that you gotta have to finish the drive with a touchdown.

But we just, like I said, we're doing a lot of good stuff. But that's been a problem for us. And that's what allows teams to hang around, because you're kicking field goals.

I mean, you got a chance to put some of these games away. And so we're gonna keep working at it. And we are making some improvements.

But that is an area that's just nowhere near as good as we need to be. And again, if it was one thing, I would say so. But it's not. It's kind of a musical chairs of what it is.

On Grant Wise and Gavin Blanchard

Q: I know you're really proud of Wise and Blanchard yesterday. After watching the film, what popped out to you?

Swinney: Yeah, they competed. They competed really, really hard.

I mean, Grant had two or three plays. Obviously had the one penalty, and I think he had one missed ID, but they competed their butts off.

And Gavin is a physical guy. He's always looking for work. He did have a critical error down. It wasn't necessarily an error. It was more of a fundamental thing where he just didn't really have his cleats in the ground underneath him.

And coming off the ball, he kind of dropped his right foot back, tripped the quarterback, kind of a cluster right there.

But both of them, I was really proud of them. They competed their tails off. And that's an experience that's gonna do anything but just help them get better. You don't forget that. And so was proud of both of them.

On Tait Reynolds' Shoulder

Q: Tait went back to the locker room, was on his left shoulder after that run in the second quarter. How'd you see that go down? Obviously, I know he finished the game and he told us he was fine. But what did you see with all that?

Swinney: Yeah, he was just banged up, but he told me the same thing. I said, "Are you okay?" He said, "I'm fine."

So he was fine. That's all I can tell you. Yeah, it's a physical game, and he just got a little beat up. But was able to go out there and finish the game and do what he needed to do.

On Jarvis Green's Limited First-Half Carries

Q: Jarvis had three carries on that first round, including the long one, and didn't have another one until the third quarter. Was that intentional or something that you look back on and wish you had changed?

Swinney: No, it wasn't intentional, but it was definitely something at halftime we certainly talked about. We gotta get a few more direct runs.

A lot of it was just, there were some good plays that were coming off of it. Because there was a bunch of RPOs in the game, Chapel. So that sometimes can be the case.

You have a nice completion, you have a nice RPO, but that means the back didn't get the ball. But you're taking what the defense gives you, as opposed to maybe getting two yards, you got seven, or whatever.

So part of it was that, a lot of RPOs in the first half that Nick calls. It could have gone to him. It just takes taking what the defense is giving him.

But we did talk at halftime, let's make sure he's got some more direct runs without the RPO so we can just make sure we get him going. And he did a good job for us.

On Reynolds' Interception

Q: Looking back on the film, what did you see there on Tait's interception? Was that just him trying to force a play?

Swinney: Yeah, just trying to do too much right there. That's just a dumb play. Just throw it away.

On Ashton Hampton Giving Swinney the Interception Ball

Q: Ashton, after his interception, I think a clip's going around, and he went and brought you the ball. Did he say why he gave you the ball, or is it just to be nice, or whatever?

Swinney: I guess he was just being nice, but I gave it back to their trainer or their manager on the sideline, so I don't know.

I guess he was just being nice to Coach Swinney. I appreciated it.

On Reynolds' Ball Placement and Receiver Timing

Q: With Tait, is the next thing for him maybe to come, sort of his ball placement on some of those back-shoulder, vertical sideline throws?

Swinney: Well, I think he's actually been pretty dang good. We've just dropped a bunch of them.

The first one was a miss by him, to T.J. Moore on the right side. That's a definite back-shoulder ball. And he had another one where T.J. got a hand on it.

He could have probably had an either-or right there, but he's made some great throws that we've dropped.

I mean, you go back to the Virginia Tech game, the ball that he hit Wesco on, on a back-shoulder ball. That was a freaking rope that we dropped.

So we just haven't connected like we need to or expect to.

And then there was one later in the game to Wesco. And Tait, that actually was a good ball. He was trying to stop him with the ball, but Wesco didn't give eyes until he was about 15 yards downfield.

And when you have drop-back conversion, you've got to give eyes from 10 to 12 at the latest. Because, and I think if he had given eyes at 10 to 12, he would have found that ball and probably made the catch, or at least got a good attempt on it.

But he didn't give his eyes, so it wasn't synced up. We weren't timed up properly, because Wesco had plenty of room. But he was just, like I said, he was late with his eyes.

Tait was on time with the throw. But when he looked back, the ball's already there. And so that's just reps and stuff we work every day.

But it's those little bitty details that sometimes that can show up on game day and can throw you off a little bit from it.

When I talk about precision, that's what I'm talking about.

But they made a lot of good plays, but still plenty of room for improvement in all areas when it comes to placement of the ball, pushing the ball down the field, receivers, timing, all that stuff.

And I think you'll continue to see that get better. We're on our way in that area with those guys.

On Kourtney Kelly's Return and the Defensive Touchdown

Q: Kourtney Kelly's been back for a couple games now, and he had a sack and forced fumble for the score yesterday. How good is it to have him in rotation?

Swinney: Yeah, it's great to get him back. I'm really happy for him.

It's a tough thing to get hurt in spring and know you're gonna miss some time. And obviously a kid just coming in here.

I mean, we forget about Markus Strong. He's played a half of the LSU game. That was a big [unclear] for us.

So to not have both of those guys for a good bit of the season was a loss for us.

But happy for Kourtney. He's a high-motor guy. He cares. He's still kind of playing his way back into real football shape, etc.

But that was a big, big, big play. And a lot of it was coverage, because he actually held the ball. We made him hold the ball, and Kourtney just kept working and finally got in there and got to him.

And then great heads-up play by [name unclear] and scooping it up.

On Donovan Starr's Injury

Q: What was Starr's injury?

Swinney: His ankle.

On Gideon Davidson and Tyler Brown's Availability

Q: Do you have any feel for Gideon and his availability this week, and Tyler?

Swinney: Yeah, I don't.

I'd say both of them are better than they were last Sunday. So it's just kind of both those guys are day-to-day. So just see how they are.

And obviously our doctors and trainers do a great job with those guys. And they've got a protocol.

So all I know is they're better today than they were last Sunday. But that doesn't mean they're game-ready.

So we'll just have to go through the week and see how they are. And at some point we'll get them back, whether it's this week or somewhere down the road.

On Nolan Hauser's Punting

Q: I don't know if Hauser is trying to get the Ray Guy Award in addition to the Groza this season, but he had a 57-yard punt yesterday. Has he kind of become your long-punt specialist in a sense?

Swinney: Yeah, I mean, he's got a unique way that he punts the ball. And I mean, he can bomb it.

And Rich has been working with him on that. And I mean, he's a weapon.

So he's just kind of brought a little bit of a different dimension for our punt team and has done a really good job with it. So I'm proud of him.

On Syracuse's End-of-Half Clock Management

Q: Dabo, what was y'all's vantage point and kind of strategy on Syracuse's end-of-half situation? They looked a little frustrated, confused when Angeli went up and didn't spike it. You guys seemed ready for that. How did that go down from your point of view when there were three seconds left at the very end?

Swinney: Well, no, you can't spike it. So we knew that he couldn't spike it. There were only two seconds left.

So as soon as they got the first down, I just looked at the clock and there was only two seconds.

That's something we work all the time in our fall camp. You hit a big play and there's three seconds or more, you can clock it.

And then you can run your last play or whatever, or kick a field goal, whatever it may be.

But if you hit a big play, and now this is no timeouts. Obviously, if you got timeouts, you call timeout.

But if you hit a big play and you've got two seconds on the clock or less, the rules don't allow you to clock it. It's against the rules.

So you have to have a win play ready to go.

You can't kick a field goal because they're going to start the clock as soon as they move the chains if you don't have a timeout.

So we work that all the time from different, whether it's from the 40 to the 25 to the 15 to the five, whatever. We work those situations.

You hit a big play, you got no timeouts, three seconds or more, you clock it. And you get the right call or [unclear] a kick field goal.

Two seconds or one second, then you gotta get up there and you gotta have your win, win, win calls.

And everybody's gotta know. So we knew they had to throw to the end zone. We knew they couldn't spike it.

So that's why you saw our guys deep back there.