Dabo Swinney talks using shotgun on play resulting in safety

Clemson nearly allowed Georgia Tech back into Saturday afternoon’s game. In the final seconds, the Tigers were pinned at their own goal line. Running back Will Shipley fumbled the ball in their end zone, resulting in a safety.

While the Yellow Jackets could not convert a Hail Mary attempt, it made the final minute of Clemson’s 14-8 win a little close for comfort. Tigers coach Dabo Swinney came under fire for having the offense in shotgun formation, putting Shipley even further back in the end zone. Instead, putting quarterback D.J. Uiagaleleli under center would have put Shipley much closer under the line of scrimmage.

“That’s just what we do,” Swinney said in his postgame press conference. “That’s what we’ve always done. We thought about going under, but we got a young quarterback — we just went with what we’re comfortable with. Had a good play, it wasn’t like it wasn’t a good play. We just dropped the ball.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s under center or what, if you drop the ball you pit yourself in jeopardy.”

Clemson almost didn’t run the ball

Swinney did think about not running the ball at all in the situation. The Clemson coach considered having Uiagaleleli running around in the end zone and just taking a safety, which would have run out the clock and not make an impact on the game.

“I almost took the safety anyway, that was something I really thought about,” Swinney said. “Snapping it to DJ and taking a slow safety there, running around a little bit and maybe leave them three or four seconds. We decided to run it out. We hard counted it, thinking we had nothing to lose in that situation. If they jump off, we get five yards. If they don’t, we get a delay and move back an inch. It was kind of a good time to take a shot at that. But it worked out.

“We’re fortunate, the ball goes on the ground, Shipley recovers it. They said he recovered it in the end zone, which is a safety. There was about every type of situation you could think about tonight.”

Dabo Swinney on possibly naming Will Shipley starting running back

For the second-consecutive week, freshman Will Shipley has emerged as Clemson’s leading rusher. Shipley had 21 carries and rushed for 88 yards and two touchdowns, also adding two receptions. The two scores were Clemson’s only source of offense in the game.

Swinney was impressed by Shipley’s performance. When asked about possibly naming Shipley Clemson’s lead back, Swinney said that the team will continue riding the hot hand.

“Well, I mean, it’s one game,” Swinney said when asked if he’s seen enough to make Shipley the No. 1 back. “We’ll go back and watch the tape and we’ll kind of assess everything and see where are this week. That’s what we do every week, but obviously we have a lot of confidence in him.  

“Again, we’re going to have games where somebody’s going to get the hot hand. That’s going to happen with the backs that we have. Tonight, he was the guy that kind of got the hot hand and kind of sparked us and we rode him.”