Tag: Nick Eason

Dabo Swinney doesn’t know if his team will find itself in a similar situation in the latter stages of its unbeaten tussle this weekend. But if No. 5 Clemson is, the Tigers’ coach doesn’t want to see the change in demeanor that he saw a week ago.

“We just didn’t finish the game well defensively in the fourth quarter at all. Probably the biggest disappointment,” Swinney said of Clemson’s 34-28 win over Florida State. “We’ve got a 20-point lead with 10 minutes (left), and the next thing you know, you’ve got an onside kick.”

Brannon Spector recovered that kick in the final 2 minutes, 17 seconds to help the Tigers pull out a win that looked a lot closer on the scoreboard than it had been for much of the game. Clemson (7-0, 5-0 ACC) answered a couple of early touchdowns by the Seminoles and scored 27 unanswered points at one point to a commanding 34-14 lead midway through the third quarter.

It looked as if Clemson might cruise when FSU went another 11 minutes and change of game time without scoring. Then everything changed. The Seminoles got the ball with 11:45 left and marched 60 yards in just seven plays to get within two scores. Then, with FSU backed up at its own 6-yard line with less than 4 minutes left, the Seminoles needed just 1:35 to cover those 94 yards for another touchdown that got them within six.

Clemson yielded eight first downs and 169 yards alone in the final 15 minutes while the offense didn’t do much during that time other than picking up a first down on its final possession. That allowed the Tigers to milk the rest of the clock on a snoozer that quickly turned into a white knuckler.

“Lost our focus,” Swinney said. “Thought we got undisciplined. Also some penalties as well. Just got to put people away when you’ve got the opportunity. You can’t give up the amount of yards that we gave up in the fourth quarter against good people.”

It was a particularly bad finish for a defense that’s had its share of ups and downs in coordinator Wesley Goodwin’s first year calling the shots. The offense hasn’t been perfect either, but the group has been much improved following last season’s struggle. The Tigers had trouble holding onto their sizable lead last week because, for the first time this season, they were gashed on the ground. 

Clemson entered the game with the nation’s No. 2-ranked run defense but gave up 206 rushing yards to the Seminoles, who ripped off 6.1 yards per pop. Early in the season, it was the 95th-ranked pass defense that plagued the Tigers, who allowed six passing touchdowns in a double-overtime win at Wake Forest, four of them coming after the Tigers took a 20-14 lead just before halftime.

The inconsistency on that side of the ball was enough for players to take action among themselves following the near disaster at FSU. The defense called a players-only meeting early in the week to address it.

“Our veterans, they step up and speak,” said senior cornerback Sheridan Jones, who returned to the lineup last week after missing three games with an injury. “We tell guys that we won the game. The scoreboard is kept and we won, but we know that we need to finish stronger and finish the game stronger. Just letting guys know that and just trying to bring that energy up.

“We knew in our hearts that we should’ve done better, but we can’t just walk around the mope the whole time. Just got to make sure we get everybody on the same page.”

First-year assistant Nick Eason has been around a lot of teams during his lengthy career in the sport. A former Clemson standout, Eason played a decade in the NFL and then coached in the league before making his way back to the college game in recent years. 

Eason, who coaches the defensive tackles and coordinates the run defense, said he sees a team at Clemson that’s still learning how to finish the job. Even with some of the veterans the Tigers have on their roster, including a third-year quarterback and a defensive front seven full of next-level talent, Eason said that’s not necessarily surprising given their youth.

“I really, truly believe that no matter what level you’re on, you’re always going to be constantly be developing your players,” Eason said. “You never arrive as a player, and I think that gives me the benefit, as a former NFL player and a former NFL coach that’s been around a lot of coaches and a lot of great players, you’re always going to be constantly trying to develop and work on your craft.”

But Eason said it’s also on him and the rest of the coaching staff to help drive home just how important it is to stay in attack mode.

“That killer instinct, I’m not Wizard of Oz and I’m not Jesus,” he said. “I think sometimes that comes with the demeanor of who you are as a person. That’s your DNA. And I understand everybody’s not leaders, but that’s my job as a coach is to get that out of our players, to show them what that killer instinct looks like and give them examples. Lead them and show them how to find that eye of the tiger and that killer instinct. When our offense is doing really good, to be able to go in, shut teams out and capitalize on situations where, when they’re backed up, we can’t allow teams to drive the field.

“It just starts with us as coaches. Coach Swinney has challenged us as a defensive staff, and that’s what I love about him. He challenges us to be better in everything we’re doing, and I think it makes us better coaches and better leaders.”

Clemson’s next opportunity will come against one of those “good people” Swinney referenced when No. 14 Syracuse (6-0. 3-0) visits Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

“Unfortunately sometimes you learn from the bad more than you do the good, so hopefully this will be a great learning lesson for those guys if they take to coaching,” Swinney said.

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