Dabo Swinney dismisses questions on future of Clemson defensive staff
The Clemson Tigers‘ season came to an end with a loss in the College Football Playoff to the Texas Longhorns. It was another game this season where head coach Dabo Swinney was dealing with an inconsistent performance from the defense.
Despite those inconsistencies throughout the season, Swinney dismissed questions about potential staff changes on the defensive side of the ball when asked about the chances they’d occur. However, he did note that the Tigers need to improve.
“We’re not worried about any of that stuff,” Dabo Swinney said. “We had a great year, won the championship. We’ve got to improve in all areas. Got an excellent staff. All those guys work really hard and well together, but we’ve got to improve everywhere if we want to get to the top. Good enough to get the playoff, good enough to win the league, not good enough to win it all.”
Texas ended up scoring 38 points and gaining 494 total yards in their win over Clemson. That came on 6.9 yards per play. The Longhorns were 6/12 on third down conversions and only punted once. At halftime, Dabo Swinney called for his defense to be less feast or famine.
“We’ve got to get in there and talk about it,” Swinney told the broadcast crew at halftime. “I mean we can’t stop them right now, so we’ve got to find a way…Good job getting a couple turnovers, but we’re just feast or famine on defense, and that ain’t a good thing.”
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While the defense did improve for Clemson in the second half, it wasn’t enough and the offense wasn’t able to climb out of the hole the Tigers got into before the half.
Clemson finished the 2024 season 73rd in total defense, giving up 374.1 yards per game. That’s out of 134 FBS teams and was also 11th in the ACC. The Tigers were also 54th in scoring defense, giving up 23.4 points per game. That mark was also sixth in the ACC. In Clemson’s four losses this season, the Tigers gave up 30.5 points per game.
While none of those numbers are terrible, as Dabo Swinney pointed out, it was an effort that wasn’t good enough to win it all this season.
When Dabo Swinney had his best teams at Clemson, the Tigers were elite on the defensive side of the ball. Now, it will be interesting to see how the Tigers work to get back to that level for next season.