Dabo Swinney says Clemson won't lose again in 2023 if offense plays like Week 1

Clemson took a significant hit to their season to end the week one slate as they dropped their opener at Duke in a stagnant fashion. Still, while the debut of the Tiger’s offense was a complete misfire, they, oddly enough, actually encouraged Dabo Swinney heading into the rest of the year.

Swinney addressed Clemson’s mistakes against the Blue Devils in his press conference on Wednesday. In his eyes, he felt like he saw the Tigers do everything right on offense, besides scoring and turning the ball over, from the tape.

“I mean, as I said the other night, it was a strange game but (I’m) incredibly encouraged. The things you need to see to win football games? Physicality, toughness, the ability to run the ball, throw the ball? We did all the things that we need to do from that standpoint,” Swinney said. “There’s no gimmes in football. You’ve got to stand up there and knock the six-inch putt in.”

“Just some self-inflicted wounds, just that simple. Those are painful lessons,” continued Swinney. “I’m proud of what we saw on tape. We’ve won a lot of games around here where, when I watched the tape, I wasn’t real happy. Everything that I wanted to see as far as how we played? And what leads to winning? I saw that. The guys were in position to win.”

Again, it’s hard to see anyone being too “happy” with just seven points to open your campaign as well as conference play. That’s especially so considering Clemson’s offense was a disaster for most of the game. In the first half, they just couldn’t get much of anything going. In the second half, though, the Tigers kept giving the ball away and missed opportunities with five turnovers and a second missed field goal.

Still, Swinney was more so speaking about the process of their offense. He understands the value of points but, in general, he felt like that unit did everything else that they needed to do.

“If we do what we did offensively the rest of the year? We won’t lose another game. It’s just that simple. I’ll sign up for that right now,” said Swinney. “I was very encouraged by what we saw and it’s unfortunate that that got overshadowed because we lost the game. But that’s what happens when you don’t do some of the routine things. We had a cadence situation, we put the ball on the ground a couple of times, three trips inside the five and we get nothing, a couple low kicks.”

“The name of the game is points. A lot of yards, a lot of stats, good on third down. But, at the end of the day, you’ve got to finish.”

It’s hard to believe that any offense, not just Clemson’s, could be much worse than what we saw at times on Monday night at Durham. There’s no doubt that they will correct most of that, especially with Garrett Riley wearing a headset. That’s why, as frustrating as it may have been, Swinney is ready to see his offense build off what they did do right while improving in the vital areas where things went wrong.

“There were a lot of positives. I thought the guys played hard, they competed their tails off. Again, we just didn’t do the routine things well. Everything that we didn’t do well is very correctable,” said Swinney. “We lost this one and I’m not happy that we lost. But I am pleased with the ingredients that I saw. I felt really good about this team last week going into the game, I feel better about this team coming out of the game. I know that may sound weird to say but I do. Now I’ve seen it on tape.”

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t do some of those little things better that could’ve given us a great opportunity to win a ball game. I’m disappointed in that. But we’ll get better,” Swinney said. “This team, I think, is made of the right stuff and has responded well.”