Dabo Swinney offers update on Will Shipley injury

The Clemson Tigers dropped another game on Saturday, this time to NC State. The Wolfpack narrowly edged out the Tigers, winning 24-17, dropping Clemson 4-4 overall and 2-4 in conference. And the loss to NC State for head coach Dabo Swinney and company came with an injury to the insult.

Clemson running back Will Shipley was knocked out of the game in the second quarter following a hit to the head and neck area. The Tigers running back was able to walk off the field under his own power. Still, after a brief evaluation on the sidelines, he was ruled out for the remainder of the game. During the postgame press conference, Swinney provided an update on Shipley’s injury.

“Yeah, I think they did some X-rays on his neck and stuff,” said Swinney. “But I haven’t gotten any results. I was just told he was definitely out of the game.”

Shipley left the game with six carries for 21 yards, averaging 3.5 yards a carry. He also had two catches for 10 yards. In his place, running back Phil Mafah was able to pace the Tigers’ rushing attack with 16 carries for 84 yards and two touchdowns.

The severity of Shipley’s injury has yet to be revealed but if he is able to make a quick recovery, that is big for the Tigers. In Week 10, they will host the No.14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and undoubtedly will need their star running back for that contest.

Notre Dame vs. Clemson odds: Early point spread

The calendar is about to flip to November, which means big games get even bigger. For Clemson, it’s about staying in the hunt in the ACC as the Tigers take a non-conference break against Notre Dame in Week 10.

The Las Vegas oddsmakers have weighed in, and Notre Dame is a 3-point favorite in the matchup, according to FanDuel. The over-under is 49.5.

Notre Dame got off to a red-hot start to the season before splitting a four-game stretch of prime time games. The Fighting Irish came out of the bye week with a resounding 58-7 victory over Pitt in Week 9 to start what Marcus Freeman called a “two-week sprint” to start the final four games. Because Notre Dame played in Week 0, it has two bye weeks on the schedule, and they happen to come two weeks apart.

As a result, Freeman is taking a unique approach with his message to his team.

“It’s a two-week sprint,” Freeman said on Coach K on Basketball. “You’ve just come off a bye week, everybody’s fresh. We have to sprint. Not just run, jog. We’ve got to sprint for two weeks. Everything we have for these next two weeks, and then you get another bye week. Then we’ll come back and we’ll finish it the right way. Two weeks, we need to go everything we can.”

For Clemson, it’s been an interesting year to say the least. The Tigers started the season ranked No. 9 in the preseason AP Top 25, but lost to Duke in the opener. They entered Week 9 with a 4-3 record and headed to NC State, and the struggles continued in the early going. Clemson trailed 10-7 heading into halftime and saw running back Will Shipley leave the game with an injury.