Despite struggles, Dabo Swinney says 'there is a foundation' at Clemson

Clemson, now 4-3 on the 2021 season, has already matched its largest loss total since a 10-3 campaign in 2014, and Dabo Swinney’s Tigers continue to fall short of enormous preseason expectations.

Clemson entered the season as a College Football Playoff hopeful with national title aspirations, and quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei was tabbed one of the preseason Heisman Trophy favorites. Seven games later, Swinney and the Tigers are fighting for semi-relevant bowl consideration, and Uiagalelei — who’s only completed 54.8 percent of his passes for 1,102 passing yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions — could very well find himself on the bench in the near future. But Swinney was quick to remind reporters that this season is one mere hiccup in his otherwise successful 13-year run at Clemson, and that Clemson still has a foundation upon which they can build.

“There are a lot of positives. Guys care, and again, that’s what you lean on. There is a foundation here,” Swinney said in Clemson’s Tuesday afternoon press conference. “We’re not trying to build a foundation. There is a foundation here that is well-established. And that’s what you go back to when you’re dealing with something like this. We’ll get through it. It’ll make us better. As I said — the struggle makes you strain, and when you strain, you get strong. We’ll be stronger from what we’re dealing with this season.”

Uiagalelei, a former five-star recruit out of Bellflower, California, looked like he was on track to follow in Trevor Lawrence’s footsteps at the onset of his college career. Not only did he project as a multi-tool quarterback, but he had the performances to prove it in 2020, starting twice in relief of Lawrence after a positive COVID-19 test. In those games — a narrow, double-overtime loss at No. 4 Notre Dame, and a win over Boston College — Uiagalelei held a 69 percent completion rate with 781 passing yards, four passing touchdowns and no interceptions.

Fast forward to 2021, and Uiagalelei is averaging just 157.4 passing yards per game and ranks 12th out of 14 ACC quarterbacks. He was benched last week against Pitt after throwing his second interception of the game.

“We’re going to be stronger this year. We’ve got a lot of ball left; the season ain’t over,” Swinney said. “We’re going to go fight every step of the way. But no matter what happens and how we finish, we’ve got a lot of unbelievable moments ahead.”

Unfortunately for Clemson, Uiagalelei is only one of the many problems that exists on their roster. Not only have the Tigers suffered from a myriad of injuries to key players, but their rushing attack has been inefficient, at best, averaging just 145 rushing yards per contest. Their defense hasn’t been great either, allowing an average of 336 yards of total offense per game — 37th in the country.

Swinney reassured Clemson faithful that there’s still plenty of football left to be played, and the Tigers have a significantly easy schedule to close the season. Starting with Florida State on Saturday, four of Clemson’s five remaining games are against mediocre-to-poor opponents, with its only challenge coming on Nov. 20 against No. 13 Wake Forest.

Not only does Swinney think that Clemson can pick up the pieces of its broken start to the season, but he also thinks that the Tigers are suffering from one mere lapse in what’s otherwise been a dominant 13-year run under his leadership.

“This is one season in the midst of an incredible journey,” Swinney said. “We’ve had 13 years of a great journey. As good a journey as there’s been in college football — ever. There’s a whole lot more to come. But in that 13 years, there’s been seasons that had some [negative] moments along the way and a lot of success. This is just one of those seasons. We’ve got a long way to go. I’m a better coach now than I’ve ever been.”