Clemson’s offensive line has been struggling since losing Walker Parks to injury, allowing 5 sacks in the Tigers’ 28-20 double-overtime loss to Miami.
It has been a rough go for this unit, with the loss against the Hurricanes highlighting their struggles. Following the loss, Swinney reviewed the film and met with the media for his weekly Zoom, with the offensive line being discussed. According to Swinney, the offensive line was at fault for most of the sacks.
“It was mostly OL,” Swinney said. “We did not protect well. We didn’t pick up the twist game well at all. So, it’s disappointing. We got beat up and inside one time. But mostly OL. Just a poor job. Did not play as well as we need to right there.”
Swinney touched further on the topic, indicating that these issues were primarily in one spot on the line.
“Really just struggled at one spot,” Swinney said. “I mean, we had some miscues – you play in the offensive line, it’s never perfect anywhere. But it was mostly one spot that we’ve just got to clean up some things and get a little bit better and consistently get to five guys. We had a couple penalties that we need to eliminate, but we gotta look at our personnel. We’ve got a couple guys that we need to play a little bit better for sure, that didn’t quite play like we need them to. We’ve got to make sure that we put our best foot forward there. That’s something we’ll be looking at and seeing if we can improve upon this week.
“Again, when you lose the way we lost and you don’t take advantage of the opportunities, everything gets magnified to the nth degree, as it should. So, we’ve got to certainly – and we’ve played better, but I thought that was probably our worst game in one or two spots there.”
It was pretty clear that Swinney was discussing the right guard position, where senior Mitchell Mayes has been rotating with freshman Harris Sewell filling in for the injured Parks. When asked about how they’ve been doing, Swinney simply said, “inconsistent.”
This offensive line has a lot of work to do during the final stretch of this season.