As you’d expect, there’s a lot that Dabo Swinney liked about his team’s dominant performance on Saturday night.
But what did Clemson’s head coach like the most about the Tigers’ 66-20 victory over App State at Death Valley?
Swinney was asked that question when he joined ACC Network’s ACC Huddle show for an on-set interview following the game.
Swinney quickly pointed to the Clemson faithful, giving a shoutout to Tiger fans who turned out to cheer on their team in its home opener and create a great environment at Memorial Stadium.
“Well, the fun’s in the winning. So, that’s number one,” Swinney said. “But what I liked most is our fans and how they showed up. I mean, awesome.”
Swinney appreciated that support from Clemson fans, especially considering the Tigers were coming off a disappointing 34-3 loss to Georgia in the Aug. 31 season opener.
“We laid an egg last week and missed an opportunity,” Swinney said. “And man, they just show up – a sellout, you can’t get a ticket.”
There’s plenty of other positives that Swinney took away from the strong showing from the Tigers (1-1), who moved up to No. 22 in the latest AP Top 25 and No. 20 in the latest Coaches Poll released after Week 2 of the college football season.
“To see our guys just play like they played last week, correcting the mistakes. We were clean, we were crisp,” Swinney said. “I think we scored every drive like the first (eight) drives. So, just clean execution. We got the ball to the playmakers and let the guys go to work. Our guys up front really protected well. Cade (Klubnik) was awesome. That’s who he is, that’s what he can do. He ran for a couple touchdowns. So, I’m proud of the whole team on how they responded. It’s tough when you work all year and then you get a disappointment, and you’ve got to pick yourself up and go back to work. But that’s what you do in this game – you respond, and our team responded.
“Defensively… created some turnovers. We had some bad penalties, and then we had the fumbled punt return. But outside of that, the guys competed their butts off. And then we got to develop our team. We got to play a lot of guys and a bunch of them got exposed on tape, and so now we can coach them and teach them. But I’m just proud of our team, their resilience, just staying inside out and going and playing a great football game. We got better, and that’s all we wanted to do. We got a long way to go.”
Following an open date this Saturday, Sept. 14, Clemson fans will have their next chance to see the Tigers in action at Death Valley on Saturday, Sept. 21 against NC State. Kickoff time for that contest has yet to be announced.
A limited number of signed footballs from Clemson’s 2022 class are still available. Get yours while supplies last! Visit Clemson Variety & Frame or purchase online!
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