No. 1 Clemson is far from perfect and that's fine with Dabo Swinney
The Clemson Tigers have been at or near the top of college football for almost five years. The run of success that’s been seen in Pickens County is rare, even amongst the greatest programs in the history of college football.
One reason that the Tigers have been so consistent is that Dabo Swinney has created a system that continues to challenge his players by keeping them focused on the details and buying into the output being a direct result from the input.
Player buy-in: Check
Player accountability: Check
Through the first two games of the season, the Tigers have yet to play their best, but against two Power 5 foes, the reigning champions have been in control for almost every minute of action. At one point in time, not playing their best might have been seen from the outside as a bad thing, but Swinney’s model has always been to get better every week.
"I think it's encouraging because we're 2-0, but we've got a lot of positives to build on,” Swinney noted. “There's a lot of good things on tape.”
The coaching staff will dive into the two-hours of live game action and find plenty to improve on and ultimately hope to look better week after week.
“There are a million mistakes and so many things that we can correct, but yet we still find a way to win games. We have controlled the games against two Power 5 teams, so (I’m) excited about that,” Swinney said.
Clemson, up 24-3 late in the game, left no doubt who the best team was this past Saturday. The Aggies slipped in a late score leaving the final 24-10 margin. Down the road, the score will not reflect how good Clemson’s defense played against a very good Texas A&M squad as Swinney noted.
“Those are challenging games and this Texas A&M team, this is a really good team. This is a team that's going to win a bunch of games.”
Now the growth has to come against Syracuse, who was hammered by Maryland last weekend, 63-20. The Tigers can’t afford to feel too comfortable before arriving at the Carrier Dome on Saturday as the Orange have challenged them the past two seasons. The Tigers need to keep their edge according to Swinney.
“I don't know if it's the next level. Let's just keep doing what we've been doing and that's trying to do our very best each week,” Swinney said. “We try to dominate the opponent. It doesn't matter who we play or where we play, they keep score for a reason so let's try and dominate the opponent and have a killer instinct to our team and do it for four quarters.”
As for where the currently reside, at No. 1 in the polls, Swinney still recognizes that there are plenty of opportunities to improve.
“I'm just really proud of the guys. We’ve still got a lot of room for improvement and we have a chance to be a very good football team,” Swinney stated. “If we can just learn and grow from my experiences."
When it comes to how close the Tigers are to reaching their potential, Swinney noted that the Tigers are still working to improve, and the next step takes place tomorrow night in Syracuse.
“We're a long way from where we want to be. We're growing and we're teaching and we're coaching.”
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