After scuffling in back-to-back games against Syracuse and Notre Dame, DJ Uiagalelei went into last Saturday’s game against Louisville facing what Dabo Swinney viewed as a “do-or-die day” for Clemson’s starting quarterback.
Fortunately for Uiagalelei, he came out on the good end of the ultimatum that the Tigers’ head coach had in mind. Following the games against the Orange and Irish, when Uiagalelei was benched for true freshman signal-caller Cade Klubnik in both, Uiagalelei bounced back by faring much better against the Cardinals.
But what if Uiagalelei’s struggles had lingered into the Louisville game? How would the “die” part of the aforementioned scenario have played out if things had gone poorly for the junior in a third straight outing?
Swinney was asked that question Wednesday evening, and if his “do-or- die” comment meant the Tigers would have turned to Klubnik completely if Uiagalelei hadn’t righted the ship.
“I don’t know. We’d have to deal with it,” Swinney said during his post-practice media availability via Zoom. “But the bottom line is you’ve got to play better or you’ve got to do something different.
“So, what does that look like? There’s really no set – if you put somebody in there, they may not do well. But as I said, he ‘do’d.’”
Coming off the games against Syracuse and Notre Dame, in which Uiagalelei had a total of three interceptions and four turnovers overall with only one touchdown, he lost a fumble against Louisville but accounted for two touchdowns with no interceptions while completing 19 of 27 passes for 185 yards.
Before the California native hit a rough patch beginning with the Syracuse game, he had gone into that contest having racked up 21 total touchdowns against just two interceptions across Clemson’s first seven games this season.
Overall, Uiagalelei has completed 65.3 percent of his passes for 2,179 yards and 19 touchdowns with five interceptions in 10 games this season, while rushing for 405 yards and five more scores on the ground.
“He played well, and he’s played well eight games,” Swinney said. “Eight of our 10 games, he’s played good. He’s had two that he didn’t play well, and they were in a row, so to have three bad ones in a row would’ve been something that you’ve gotta give somebody else an opportunity.”
The good news for Uiagalelei and the Tigers is he didn’t have a third bad one in a row but instead helped lead his team past Louisville, 31-16, at Death Valley.
“I’m proud of him. He responded, and we won the game,” Swinney said. “But that’s kind of where we are. We’ve got to all coach well, we’ve got to play well. This is the fourth quarter of our season, and it’s on all of us to be at our best right now.”
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