Following the Tigers’ 31-point loss to Georgia on Saturday afternoon, all eyes were on Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney.
Whether it was in regards to his stance on the transfer portal or the personnel that he played in the loss, a lot were looking to hear how Swinney would respond to the defeat. When he spoke, he put his hands in the air.
“Biggest thing, when you get beat like that, that’s on the head coach. That’s on me,” Swinney said after the game.
“Sometimes you get your butt kicked, and we did today.”
The border rivalry was not a complete bloodbath, despite what the scoreboard may show. At halftime, the Bulldogs were holding on to a narrow 6-0 lead, giving Clemson fans hope that the contest against the top team in the nation would be kept close.
Until Georgia blew the game open with 28 points in the second half.
Swinney recalled a missed opportunity late in the first quarter, where an illegal formation penalty negated an 11-yard reception by redshirt sophomore Antonio Williams that would have put the Tigers into field goal range.
“(The) biggest thing to me was missed opportunities in the first half,” Swinney said. “We needed some early momentum. We had made a couple plays. We made a huge play. They said we weren’t lined up right, (and) that was a huge, huge, huge missed opportunity in the first half.”
While the easiest target to blame is quarterback Cade Klubnik, who threw for 142 yards, 0 touchdowns and one interception, Swinney is not so quick to jump the gun. He defended his quarterback for the positives that he presented in the game, and pointed out that the team was “not going to make a living” converting third downs against a tough Georgia secondary.
“I think there were a lot of bright spots with Cade,” he said. “He’s also one of those guys I’m really proud of from just comments in the locker room. That’s what leaders do. That kid will show up Monday ready to go. He’s just going to keep getting better.”
On the defensive side of the ball, there were some bright spots, especially with holding a high-powered Georgia offense to only two field goals in the first half. The crumble in the second half, according to Swinney, was from the Bulldogs’ conversions on third down and missed tackles.
“I thought in the first half the red zone defense was really good to see, too,” Swinney said. “There was a lot of physicality. There was a lot of good stuff. At the end of the day, it’s about getting the result that you want. That was two quarters of really poor football. I take ownership of that.”
However, a changed college football dynamic has more chances for Clemson to bounce back and get back to a College Football Playoff appearance for the first time since the 2020-2021 season.
With a 12-team playoff instead of only four, a strong ACC campaign could allow the Tigers to get back to the postseason. It’s all about putting Week 1 behind you, which Swinney knows better than anyone.
“Again, it’s over,” he said. “We got to flush it and move on to the next one. That’s all we can do. We can’t sit around and just wallow in it forever. We’ve got a long season ahead. We’ve still got a chance. There’s not anything off the table for this team.”
“They didn’t hand out a national championship trophy tonight,” he added. “We didn’t lose the ACC tonight. We got our butts kicked in one game, and we’ve got a long way to go. Let’s go play it out and see what happens.”
Swinney and the Tigers will be back in action at home on Saturday night when they will play Appalachian State with looks to get their first win of the season at 8 p.m.
