Swinney, Clemson Showing 'No Quit' Following Georgia Tech Loss

The Clemson Tigers’ start to ACC play was not ideal, but head coach Dabo Swinney won’t back down. 

Following a 24-21 defeat in Atlanta, Georgia, to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, it’s not the start the team wants. The team seems to have two or three plays that turn the tide of each of its losses. 

At the end of the day, the game is over, and focus needs to move into next week. 

“It’s not the start that we wanted,” Swinney said after the game, “but we’ve got to stay together and we’ve got to fight our way out. That’s one play at a time, one game at a time. That’s all we can do.” 

The No. 12 Tigers will see a drop in the AP Poll rankings, and college football and Clemson fans alike will approach the game differently. The team has a losing record in the first three games in what many people believed would be an unbeaten record going into the fourth week. 

Swinney speaks about things that there was “a lot of good”, but it’s all about moving those good things into the week that approaches. 

“We can’t do anything about what has happened,” Swinney said. “All we can do is just keep working and try to see if we can find a way to make a couple more plays, continue to do some of the good things that we’re doing.”

Complimentary football has been a major topic of interest for Clemson throughout the last several seasons, with the offense and defense playing well, just at different times. Because of this, the Tigers were unable to close out on the important plays, which the Clemson head coach acknowledged. 

Swinney also credits Georgia Tech for making the needed moves to win on Saturday afternoon, which included a two-minute drill that saw a 56-yard field goal fly between the uprights to put the Yellow Jackets ahead for good in the contest. 

“It’s frustrating, it’s what it takes to win close games,” he said. “We have to make critical plays at critical times, and they made them and we didn’t. They deserved it, and they earned it and we have every opportunity there.”

Fortunately, for Clemson, there’s plenty of football that’s left to be played. If the Tigers run the table in the ACC and get some luck on their side, there’s a great chance that they end up in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the ACC Championship in December. That will most likely be the only team’s way to get to the 12-team College Football Playoff. 

For now, it’s focusing on a week-by-week basis. Clemson has Syracuse next week at home before its first bye week of the season. For Swinney and the coaching staff, it’s going to be about keeping the team’s thoughts in the locker room. 

Especially at a school like Clemson, which demands excellence from its fans, Swinney is looking to have his team focused on the task at hand. 

“I know there will be a lot of criticism, a lot of negativity, a lot of all that stuff,”  Swinney said. That all comes with it. We’ve just got to go try to find a way to win a game this week.

We’ve got a long way to go, and this is a competition. There are no quitters in that locker room. There’s no quit in me, that’s for sure, and let’s see if we can find a way to win a game next week.”