What Dabo Swinney said after Clemson football’s road loss to Duke in season opener
Here’s a quick recap of Clemson coach Dabo Swinney’s postgame press conference remarks made Monday night after the Tigers lost 28-7 to Duke to kick off the new college football season.
It was Clemson’s 59th game under Swinney in which the Tigers had more than 200 rushing yards (213) and 200 passing yards (209), but the first time the Tigers lost when reaching those marks. Clemson is now 58-1 under Swinney — and 108-1 all-time — when breaking 200 yards in both stats.
Opening statement
“An incredibly disappointing loss. In all my years of football, I’ve never been part of a game like that. ... You’ve got to finish and obviously we did not do that. So many opportunities.
“Twice first and goal from the 1, you get no points, it’s really really disappointing.
“Got to give (Duke) credit. They hung in there and made plays. Congratulations to Duke. They’ve got a heck of a team.
“Just a really disappointing night ... just an incredibly disappointing start for us. It’s not the start we wanted. We’ll have to learn from it. We just have to get back to work.
“Incredible disappointment. People are gonna see the score and make a judgment on our team. I love this football team. I see a lot of opportunity. We’ve got to stay together.
“We didn’t do the basic routine things in critical situations and it cost us. I hurt for my team because the played hard. Just had critical mistakes and they took advantage of it.”
Most disappointing loss ever?
“They’re all disappointing. Every loss I’ve ever had is disappointing. This is bad way to start. Again, they’re a good football team. People are not entitled to win. You’ve got to go earn it. Crazy stuff happens. Turnovers, blocked kicks, miscues on basic things.
“We had plenty of opportunity to get control of the game and go win the game and couldn’t get out of our own way.”
On Cade Klubnik’s 4th down run/slide that came up short
“Absolutely that’s a learning situation for Cade. He’s got to get the first down and he easily could’ve got the first down. But once you start your slide, you’re down. ... (The Duke hit) was an after-the-play penalty. They made the right call. ... Cade is going to be a great player. That’s something he’ll really learn from.”
Any surprises?
“Nothing that we weren’t prepared for. If you really watched the game, we just self-imploded in some critical situations. You’ve got to finish. It was routine stuff, the basics, the fundamentals, ball handling, basic stuff.
“Again it’s the weirdest game I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve had my butt kicked many times in my career, but I can honestly say that was one of the strangest games I’ve ever been a part of.”
On season goals after losing Week 1
“You’ve got to get back to work. That’s how you move on. That’s what happens in life. You get knocked down, you’ve got to get back up. You don’t let it define you or destroy you. You let it develop you. That’s a choice: We’ve got to let this develop us into the type of team we can be. The only thing we know is we can’t be undefeated, but we can have a great great year. ... You didn’t see a horrible football team. You saw a bad result. Everything is correctable. That’s the good news. There were a lot of positives in the game, we just didn’t capitalize when we had the opportunities.”
On getting two field goals blocked
“It was low kicks (by kicker Robert Gunn III, as opposed to issues with the protection) ... That’s what everybody in the box was saying. A disappointing start for him.”
On Garrett Riley’s first game as coordinator/play caller
“I liked his poise. He just kept going, stayed positive and encouraging the guys. ... I thought he gave us an opportunity to win the game and gave us the opportunity to punch it in multiple times and we just didn’t get it done. I thought he did a nice job. I loved his demeanor and presence and poise all throughout the game. He never lost hope and I like how he responded to the guys. ... He knows we’ve got a chance to be a good group.”
This story was originally published September 5, 2023 at 12:10 AM with the headline "What Dabo Swinney said after Clemson football’s road loss to Duke in season opener."
