Dabo Swinney on Week 1 loss: LSU made "just a few more plays"

Less than 24 hours after No. 4 Clemson dropped the program’s home opener to No. 9 LSU, Dabo Swinney fielded questions from the media during a Sunday evening teleconference.

The following is an edited transcript of Sunday evening’s teleconference from On3’s TigerIllustrated.

OPENING STATEMENTS: “We got a chance to see the tape. A lot of really good things on tape, a lot of disappointing things. Good news is nothing we can’t improve upon. It was a heck of a game, literally down to the last play. Both teams competed with great effort in a physical, tough, game. I’m proud of the fight with our guys.

“We played well enough to win on defense. I was proud of how they competed, especially in the fourth quarter where we got the ball back on three consecutive drives. We just didn’t capitalize on it. We looked like a Clemson defense was supposed to look. We held them to 17 points. They had 2.8 yards a carry in the last 58 minutes. That’s winning football. I’m pleased with those fourth quarter stops. They were 4-of-12 on third and fourth down. We just have to finish on the ball better.

“The difference in the game was that they made a couple more plays than we did. We had some critical penalties. I do think we tackled better. The penalties were a big factor for sure. They made a couple of one-on-one plays. The time of possession got out of hand, but that was more of a reflection of not sustaining drives on offense.

“Special teams, our field goal protection was good and with really good people coming after it. We just missed that 48-yarder. I was super pleased with Jack Smith. It was his first opportunity to run out there. We also had a nice punt return there at the end. A lot of positives in those two phases.

“Offensively, we just didn’t play nearly as well as we’re capable of playing. No. 11, No. 87, Wesco, Moore, they all made some big plays. They competed and fought but nowhere near close to the ability that we can play at. We had too many missed opportunities. We had critical drops on some contested plays. We weren’t good on third down. We had critical penalties.

“Cade did not play well. It was a very average game for him. We all know he can play better. He didn’t do some of the basic things. He’ll get better from it. He also made some plays where we didn’t help him out on.

“It was a playoff type of feel game in terms of the matchup and the talent on the field. Their offense made just a few more plays and we made too many critical mistakes. We didn’t get the start that we wanted. I’m really thankful for our fans.

“Nothing changes for us. Had we won the game 17-10, we’d still be right here cleaning up a lot of things and improving. I think we have a chance to be a great team. This is a team if we’ll show up and play with passion and clean up execution and Cade improves, I think this is a team that will get better over the course of a long season.

“Injury-wise, we’ll see where we are on a couple of guys tomorrow. For the most part, we’re fairly healthy.”

Question: Your thoughts on the offensive line after watching the film?

Swinney: “No one was perfect on that side of the ball. We had a couple of missed IDs. Just not good enough to win the game. Not terrible. That’s for sure. We could have helped them in a couple of situations. No one played well enough to win on the offensive side. We made some plays but we missed some opportunities, too. Overall, not a winning performance for that side of the ball.”

Question: Looking back at the film, you said you got away from the run game quicker than you should have. Why do you think that happened?

Swinney: “Just rhythm and not converting on some third downs, some miscues early. A lot of it was just making some better decisions with critical plays that extend drives. We have to call it. We have to do a good job of being committed (to the run game). I didn’t think we did a good job with that. When we commit to it, we have to execute it properly … everyone, offensive line, quarterback.”

Question: Your evaluation on some of those hot route options for Cade. Were there opportunities there for him?

Swinney: “Oh yeah. Absolutely. He didn’t play well. I can’t sugarcoat it. For whatever reason, he got a little rattled and started scrambling when he didn’t need to. All of a sudden he’s not putting his eyes on the right things. Sometimes when you haven’t played live ball for awhile, you miss on a couple of plays, you start trying to do too much. He’s much more capable than what he showed. He will respond. I promise.”

Question: Ronan Hanafin got the start. Stephiylan Green started. Looks like both played pretty well. What did you see from them on film?

Swinney: “Yeah. I thought for the most part the whole defensive line played well. We tackled better. There were a couple times where we didn’t set the edge. They (LSU) didn’t hold the ball a lot.

“Ronan is fast and physical. He plays violent. He knocked the ball loose. He does that a lot (in practice). That was a big-time game for him. For him to come out of a game for him really confident, that will bode well for him going forward.

“Green and Capehart, I thought were disruptive and did some good things. Defensively, we played well enough to win. We had a couple of tough calls go against us but we really settled in and got the run game stopped. We just have to build off of it.”

Question: Can you elaborate on (the health of) Antonio Williams and Khalil Barnes?

Swinney: “No. We’ll see where they are tomorrow and the next couple of days in practice. We’ll just go from there.”

Question: Your assessment of your running backs in pass protection?

Swinney: “We had one miss on a corner blitz. Adam will learn from that. That was a miss. We had another one on Eziomume. Definitely room for improvement there. They also did some good things. We didn’t give Adam enough opportunities. He had five carries. A lot of that is getting in rhythm. We only had 22 minutes of possession.

“All in all pretty good. They’ll all get better. In a game like that, you don’t have a lot of margin for error where you have elite talent competing against one another.”

Question: Walker Parks was dressed out and available, but was the plan to use him pretty much on an as-needed basis?

Swinney: “Yes. We’re just getting him back full-go. He missed a lot of live practice but it was good to have him available. We will ramp him on up this week.”