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Clemson Football

Cultural Mindset

September 20, 2017
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At the end of Clemson’s dominant 47-21 performance on the road against No. 14 Louisville, there was not a lot of celebrating amongst the team.

Sure, players were excited to notch a second consecutive victory over a top-15 opponent for the second consecutive week. Yes, there were a lot of smiles and high fives as 70 of the 72 Clemson players who traveled got to play on a big stage.

But throughout the game, and much of the second half, there was a certain business-like demeanor to the team. The Tigers did not get too high or too low during the contest and just looked to take care of business on the road in a hostile environment.

After they sang the Alma Matter with the fans and walked off the field, the team showered, some players were interviewed and everyone hopped back on the bus to head to a plane that took them back to Clemson. It was time to focus on the next challenge.

This was business as usual for Dabo Swinney.

This was a snapshot of Clemson’s culture.

Just like that, another page of the season turned to a new week. There was tape that needed to be graded, meetings that needed to be held and scouting that needed to be done on Boston College.

If you are familiar with Clemson’s program, then you know that the Tigers face a nameless, faceless opponent every week and if Clemson plays to their standard, then the outcome should be the same no matter the opponent – a win.

Now that a lot of the national media are calling for a Clemson-Alabama 3.0, Swinney keeps his tunnel vision.

This in-complacent mindset is what has propelled Clemson to be one of the top programs in the entire country and a national champion. It all starts with Swinney and trickles down through the coaching staff and then through the players. This type of culture can determine the winner of a game before the ball is even snapped on the first play.

So when Boston College opened as a 35 and-a-half point underdog, the mindset didn't change:

“Record wise they’re 1-2, but you’ve got to look beyond that… this is a very tough, physical, hard-nosed team,” Swinney said at his Tuesday press conference. “There’s a different mindset that you have to bring when you get ready to play Boston College. I think that speaks to their head coach, Coach (Steve) Addazio. Their mindset is you’re going to have to beat them. They don’t usually ever beat themselves… If you don’t have the right mindset going into it they’re going to expose you.”

Many people would just laugh this off, roll their eyes and take this as “coach speak” to show a respect for the opponent, but that’s the point. One of the toughest mental battles is to keep yourself from getting too comfortable with where you are. Once you slack off and stop pushing yourself to be the best, that is when any team can beat you. That is what coach Swinney has been instilling in his program since day one.

After a game where Kelly Bryant threw for a career high and the defense collectively shut down the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, you would think that this team is firing on all cylinders.

Coach Swinney is ahead of the game.

“We were excited to win the game last week, but there’s a lot we’ve got to improve on,” Swinney said. “A lot of missed opportunities on offense. We probably played our worst game defensively of the three games we’ve played. A lot of room for improvement as we get back on the field this weekend.”

Most Clemson fans wouldn’t expect to hear that after their defense did such a great job containing Lamar Jackson. But after what the defense did against Kent State and Auburn, it’s tough to not see his point even if it was against an offense that was supposed to be virtually unstoppable.

Swinney was referring to some of the busts on the zone coverage, which allowed Louisville to score some points late in the game. Swinney might also have been referring to Louisville's six-play drive that easily went for 95 yards to give the Cardinals some juice.

Brent Venables also echoed what Swinney was saying earlier that morning about his defense:

“I’ll be very honest, I am real proud of our guys. I thought we played incredibly hard and competed really well, but I don’t think that we played great,” Venables said Tuesday afternoon. “I think we can play better fundamentally, technique and position. We did a lot of things not up to our standard. It just so happened that when we did some of those things, they didn’t execute very well.”

Even with what seemed like a tremendous performance on both sides of the ball, Clemson is not satisfied. The coaches and players have bought in to the fact that perfecting the little things is a necessity. That type of mindset and attention to small details can go a long way down the road in a season.

One thing is certain after being around this program for a short period of time: the players love the grind. It seems like each member on the team can’t wait to get back on the practice field to perfect the little things in order to dominate that nameless, faceless opponent each week.

It all starts at the top and works its way down through every individual in the program.

It’s an all-business mindset.

It’s a championship culture.

 

 

 

 
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