Dabo doesn’t mind relying on Clemson defense early on as offense makes strides
Clemson had its worst offensive performance since 2014 on Saturday, scoring the fewest points and finishing with the fewest yards since losing at Georgia Tech 28-6 that season.
We did not see the flashy, high-scoring offense we’ve grown accustomed to seeing at Clemson over the past few years, but the Tigers didn’t need it to earn a 14-6 win over No. 13 Auburn.
It is naturally going to take Clemson time to get its offense rolling after losing Deshaun Watson, Mike Williams, Artavis Scott, Wayne Gallman and Jordan Leggett. Tigers coach Dabo Swinney is thankful to have such a strong defense to lean on in the meantime.
“When you’ve got a great defense, that can fix a lot of problems and that can cover up a lot of mistakes. And our defense certainly did that tonight,” Swinney said after the win. “That allows you to not have to force certain things, and that’s kind of where we were tonight. … We didn’t really want to force anything.”
Clemson had two turnovers, but none were by quarterback Kelly Bryant.
The junior did a nice job of protecting the football and made plays when he needed to in order to secure the victory.
Swinney saw exactly what he wanted to see from Bryant in his first pressure situation, as Bryant didn’t panic when Clemson fell behind 6-0 early and responded with a pair of rushing touchdowns. Bryant also converted a third-and-9 with a 13-yard completion and a third-and-2 with a 4-yard run on Clemson’s final drive as the Tigers were able to run out the clock.
“It’s just a whole different deal to do it under the lights. To see him tonight was awesome. I’m so proud of him,” Swinney said. “Now I think he’s answered a lot of questions. We thought he would do that. It’s one thing to think it. It’s another thing to experience it and see it.”
Swinney saw Bryant bounce back from mistakes and poor throws throughout spring practice and during preseason camp, but he got his first glimpse of his quarterback doing so in a game on Saturday.
“I’ve seen him respond when he had a bad practice. I’ve seen him respond when maybe we weren’t having quite as good a scrimmage against our guys. I’ve seen him respond to going against great competition day in and day out. But I haven’t seen him handle that in a game setting,” Swinney said. “I hoped that I’d see what I saw tonight and he would just continue to do what he’s been in practice. That’s what he’s been doing in practice. He’s been incredibly confident and poised. And when he’s made mistakes, he’s bounced back.”
While Swinney was fine with relying on his defense against Auburn, he doesn’t expect to have to throughout the season.
Swinney expects Bryant and the rest of Clemson’s offense to improve.
“There’s no question I think his confidence will really climb from that,” Swinney said. “That was just what we needed and just what he needed early in the season, to have some adversity, to have to battle. To have to grit it out, and he did it.”
This story was originally published September 11, 2017 at 10:40 AM with the headline "Dabo doesn’t mind relying on Clemson defense early on as offense makes strides."