Dabo Swinney: Vols forgot 'you gotta go play,' caught looking ahead vs. South Carolina
Dabo Swinney on Monday was crediting South Carolina, Clemson’s in-state rival and opponent on Saturday, for its 63-38 win over Tennessee on Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia.
“I got to watch a good bit of it once I got home and man,” Swinney said of the Gamecocks’ 63-38 win over the Vols, “they just played great.”
Spencer Rattler completed 30 of 37 passes for 437 yards and six touchdowns and South Carolina ran for 153 yards and three more touchdowns on the ground, scoring nine touchdowns on its 10 possessions against Tennessee.
“The quarterback played outstanding,” Swinney said. “Guys made plays. A lot of energy. That’s a tough place to play, a tough place to go play, and the next thing you know it’s up against you and momentum is a powerful thing in games like that.”
“They just really, really played a complete ballgame in all facets,” Swinner added, “and then as they got going they just kept pouring it on.”
Dabo Swinney: Vols ‘not built defensively, they’re built to outscore people’
The Vols (9-2, 5-2 SEC) entered the game at No. 5 in the College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings, four spots ahead of No. 9 Clemson. Tennessee’s chase for a berth in the four-team College Football Playoff bracket ended with the loss to the Gamecocks, though.
Eventually, Swinney turned his attention to Tennessee and what went wrong on the other side of the ball against South Carolina.
He said Rattler had “forever and a day” to throw it against the Vols and that “Tennessee is not built defensively, they’re built to outscore people.”
The Vols trailed 35-17 in the second quarter and cut the deficit to 35-31 in the third, but couldn’t get stops down the stretch. Hendon Hooker completed 25 of 42 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns before suffering a season-ending torn ACL in the fourth quarter.
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Joe Milton III replaced Hooker, completing 4 of 8 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown. Tennessee ran 28 times for 152 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Up Next: Tennessee at Vanderbilt, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network
“This is a game it doesn’t matter what your records are,” Swinney said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re coming off three big wins in a row or three big losses in a row. This is a game that you just throw all of that stuff out.
“It’s all about this game, not what you’ve done throughout the year, not what you’ve done last year, or whatever. Or what’s coming after this. It’s really all about how you play in these four quarters.”
According to Swinney, Tennessee was likely caught thinking about what was coming after playing at South Carolina and Vanderbilt to end the season. The Vols were in the conversation to be one of the four College Football Playoff teams, playing a semifinal game in either the Fiesta Bowl or the Peach Bowl.
It’s still possible that Tennessee and Clemson could face each other, with ESPN’s Mark Schlabach on Sunday projecting the two teams to matchup in the Orange Bowl on December 30 in Miami.
“They’re flipping burgers during the conference championship weekend,” Swinney said of the Vols, “like are we going to Atlanta or Phoenix, and next thing you know you forget you gotta go play.”
