After watching his starting quarterback put together back-to-back subpar performances and his team having a chance to win another ACC Atlantic Division title outright Saturday, Dabo Swinney was ready to make a switch at the position earlier if necessary.
“This was kind of a do-or-die day,” Swinney said of D.J. Uiagalelei. “It’s just where we were.”
The momentum of what had been a renaissance season for Uiagalelei through Clemson’s first seven games came to a screeching halt in the last two. Uiagalelei was completing right at 65% of his passes and had accounted for 21 touchdowns and just two interceptions through the season’s first half and change.
Then came the three-turnover fiasco against Syracuse in which he matched his turnover total for the season to that point. Uiagalelei followed that up with a lackluster showing at Notre Dame a week ago that included his fourth turnover in two games, which the Fighting Irish turned into a 96-yard pick-six en route to a 35-14 win that sent Clemson crashing from the ranks of the unbeaten.
Uiagalelei was pulled from both games in favor of true freshman Cade Klubnik, though the switch didn’t happen until the second halves. On Saturday, against a Louisville defense that’s been the most opportunistic in college football this season, Swinney wasn’t going to wait around.
“There was no way he was going to have an opportunity to go out there and stink,” Swinney said. “The guy has won 14 games in a row (as the starter), and he has a bad game against Syracuse, so you’re not going to bench your quarterback. Now he didn’t play great at Notre Dame, but nobody played great. We didn’t coach great either. But everybody’s got to take ownership, and no question he needed to play well.”
It wasn’t perfect, but Uiagalelei bounced back with a performance that didn’t require a quarterback change until the game was in hand in the final minutes. Uiagalelei completed more than 70% of his passes (19 of 27) and, for the first time since the Florida State game on Oct. 15, finished with more touchdown passes (1) than interceptions (0). He accounted for more touchdowns (2) than turnovers (1) in Clemson’s 31-16 win.
“He responded and played his butt off,” Swinney said. “Just really proud of him. Made some big-time plays.”
Uiagalelei built some confidence early thanks in part to getting involved in the running game again. Clemson called less designed runs than usual for the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder against Notre Dame, but the Tigers got Uiagalelei back involved with his legs on their first two offensive plays, runs that netted a first down and helped get Uiagalelei get into a rhythm from the jump.
“I definitely like getting hit early and just kind of get into the game,” Uiagalelei said. “You’ve got to get hit to kind of get your body into the game and into a rhythm. All the juices go out, and you just keep playing.”
Said Swinney, “We just wanted to get him hit early and get him going.”
Clemson bogged down later in a drive that looked like it might end in a punt when the Tigers faced third-and-15 from its own 31-yard line, but Uiagalelei fired a strike to Joseph Ngata along the sideline for a 24-yard completion that kept it alive. Uiagalelei was in the end zone seven plays later on an 11-yard run, helping the Tigers grab some early momentum.
“That third-and-15 was one of the plays of the game, and we were able to go down and score,” Swinney said.
Clemson led 10-7 midway through the second quarter when Uiagalelei had his lone hiccup. He lost a fumble – his fifth turnover in the last three games – when Louisville edge rusher Yasir Abdullah quickly got past left tackle Jordan McFadden and knocked the ball from Uiagalelei’s grasp.
Swinney blamed that miscue more on a lack of protection from the offensive line, which is why he said he didn’t consider making the switch to Klubnik then.
“(Uiagalelei) didn’t really get the ball pretty secured, and the guy was on him real quick,” Swinney said. “It was a little more on the o-line right there, but we’ve all got to do a better job there at every position taking care of the ball.”
After Clemson’s defense got a stop, Uiagalelei came back on the next drive and capped a 10-play, 80-yard march with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Williams that extended the Tigers’ lead to 17-7 just before halftime. Clemson led by three scores early in the second half after a 25-yard touchdown run by Will Shipley, but Uiagaleiei completed five of his last seven passes to help keep the offense moving.
It wasn’t until the Tigers still had a two-touchdown lead midway through the fourth quarter that Klubnik came on for a couple of series.
“Good to see him back on track, and hopefully that will really propel him to go have a great finish,” Swinney said of Uiagalelei. “Because he’s had a really good year outside of two games. So hopefully that’s a sign of how he’s going to finish.”
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