Swinney Explains Fourth-Down Decisions with Game out of Reach

CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney said he was just letting his guys play when he went for two fourth downs in the fourth quarter of last Saturday’s win over Appalachian State.

With the Tigers already ahead 66-20 with under 10-minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Swinney kept his offense on the field as they faced a fourth down-and-six from the App State 42-yard line. Clemson failed to convert the fourth, as backup quarterback Christopher Vizzina ran up the middle for no gain.

Clemson, who is ranked No. 22 in this week’s Associated Press Poll, went for fourth down again on its next drive. This time, the Tigers had a fourth down-and-three situation from the Mountaineers’ 45.

Third-string quarterback Trent Pearman’s pass to Chase Byrd was incomplete and App State took over on downs.

“We were just letting guys play, man. We were letting Trent Pearman play,” Swinney said when asked about those plays on Monday. “We took all of our guys out in the first half. We were just trying to let them play. We were on the other side of the fifty and we wanted to let them young linemen play, let the young quarterbacks play and all of that type of stuff.”

Swinney explained he and App State head coach Shawn Clark are good friends and he had no issues with the Tigers going for fourth down in those situations.

Clark was asked about those two plays following the Tigers’ win.

“That is his program,” the App State coach said. “I have respect for Coach Swinney. That is his program and he is going to do what is best for his program.”

Clemson (1-1) scored a touchdown on each of its first eight possessions in the first half, while building a 56-13 halftime lead.

Quarterback Cade Klubnik led the way, as he completed 24 of 26 passes for 378 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran for two touchdowns.

Though he played just one half, Klubnik finished with a pass efficiency rating of 277.9, breaking Tajh Boyd’s school record for a single game with a minimum of 20 attempts (261.9 vs. Syracuse in 2013).

He also had the best QBR of any college quarterback in the last 25 years. He became the first Clemson quarterback to be responsible for seven combined passing and rushing touchdowns since Tajh Boyd’s ACC-record eight-touchdown performance against NC State in 2012.

In all, the Tigers racked up 712 total yards, the sixth best performance from a yardage standpoint in school history.