Clemson star running back Will Shipley has now taken questionable hits back-to-back weeks against NC State and Georgia Tech, with head coach Dabo Swinney sharing Sunday that the Tigers submit all the officiating calls it disagrees with to the ACC league office for review.
The one against NC State was bad, and it looked like clear targeting. It’s safe to say the same for the one against Georgia Tech, where the tackler clearly dipped his head before making head-to-head contact with Shipley. Even so, neither were called.
The first hit caused Shipley to miss Clemson’s big matchup against Notre Dame, which could have been a major blow to the Tigers. Returning for the game against the Yellow Jackets, Shipley took another huge hit and was visually furious watching the replay of what looked like a clear targeting call that wasn’t made.
“We send everything in that we disagree with, and we do get a response,” Swinney said when asked if Clemson turned those hits in to the league office and what the response was. “But that’s kind of confidential what those responses are. That’s really not something that we’re supposed to get into.”
Swinney shared that he respects Al Riveron, the ACC Supervisor of Football Officials, who is good at what he does. Having accountability in what you do is something Swinney appreciates.
“But yeah, we turn everything in, whether it’s something like that or a missed hold or a PI or whatever,” Swinney said. “We’ve had several things over the course of the year that we turn in that yeah, they agree with that they missed, and it’s frustrating. And then other things that we’ve turned in that they don’t agree with. So, at least you’ve got good communication, and you use it to learn and educate yourself and your team.”
“But then also things that they do agree with that you turn in, that Al uses it to try to hold his guys accountable. So, there is some accountability. It doesn’t help in the moment or the day after, but at least there is a process of accountability on the other side. Because it affects those guys as far as games and postseason and all that type of stuff. So, I think he’s doing a good job of trying to have transparency and accountability.”
Hopefully, these calls won’t continue to be missed.