During his press conference Tuesday, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney discussed how the Tigers’ offense has been “burdened” by expectations, disappointment and outside noise, saying that as a coaching staff, they have to help the players fight that and block out the “loud, loud, loud world we live in” because the unit is simply just not very confident right now due to the struggles it has had this season.
“That’s all they get right now is how bad they are and how much their coaches stink and how terrible – that’s all they get, but that just comes with it,” Swinney said. “But as a young person, you’ve got to learn how to block that stuff out, the noise. Because if you don’t, you get burdened down and you try to do to much and you get outside of things and you’re not playing free. Next thing you know, the weight of the world’s on you.”
Swinney was then asked if there is anything they as coaches can do to help the offensive players execute plays more freely on the field.
“Absolutely. There’s a lot we can do. That’s what we’re working on every day,” Swinney said. “First thing is, quit reading what y’all write, quit listening to the radio, quit listening to the Twitter, get off of that mess. Stay away from that stuff. It’s the same thing if it’s great. Either one is terrible for you.”
Swinney went on to say, though, that the offense isn’t making excuses for its performance this season.
While Clemson’s defense ranks second in the FBS in points per game allowed (12.5), the Tigers’ offense ranks 113th nationally in points per game (20.5).
“At the end of the day, this is a football team that’s competed their butts off, and all we focus on is the bad,” Swinney said. “Our defense has played great, championship football. Our special teams, we’ve been outstanding. … So, there’s a lot of good. But offensively right now — and again, we don’t have excuses. Nobody cares. Nobody wants excuses at Clemson. There are none.”
Swinney believes the Tigers have all they need, despite a lot of moving parts, to be more successful offensively moving forward.
“Everybody focuses on what we don’t have,” Swinney said. “I focus on what we do have. And yeah, it’s hard to have some continuity. We’ve got to get some continuity up front. Again, started eight different guys and three different centers, and that’s frustrating. But we’ll make it work. It’s kind of a musical chairs at some spots, and so that can affect you a little bit.
“But we’ve got what we got, and we got all we need. We’ve just got to go and make a few of the plays that are there. And again, the plays are there. It’s not like plays aren’t there. We’ve just got to execute some of the plays that we’re not doing a good job of and continue to believe in the right things. That’s a choice everybody’s got to make.”
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