Dabo Swinney reacts to ‘frustrating’ turnovers in Clemson football win over Miami
Clemson football racked up 447 yards of total offense, 27 first downs and its most points in two months during Saturday night’s 40-10 beatdown of Miami.
“And we could’ve had more,” head coach Dabo Swinney said.
A lot more.
In what’s become a common theme over the past four games, the key culprit in preventing the Tigers (10-1, 8-0 ACC) from reaching their full offensive potential was … themselves.
Clemson was cruising on Senior Day, up 24-0 at halftime over Miami with everyone from quarterback to running backs to receivers to offensive line clicking for offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter’s unit. Then the turnover bug hit. Again.
“I thought we were getting rid of that,” Swinney said with a laugh.
After halftime, Clemson turned the ball over three times and was lucky it wasn’t more. Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, amid one of his steadier outings in recent weeks, threw an interception and got strip-sacked. Tight end Davis Allen fumbled at Miami’s 8-yard line.
Tight end Jake Briningstool, running back Will Shipley and wide receiver Antonio Williams also fumbled in the second half, but Clemson recovered all three of those.
The Tigers forced two turnovers of their own Saturday, but they finished minus-1 in the turnover margin against Miami. That marked the first time since 2011 that Clemson has lost the turnover margin in four consecutive games.
Across its past four games against Syracuse, Notre Dame, Louisville and Miami, Clemson has now coughed the ball up 12 times while forcing five turnovers for an overall margin of minus-8. The Tigers have also fumbled nine times in their past two games (both at home) and lost five of them.
Somehow, the Tigers are 3-1 across those four games and alive in the College Football Playoff race entering next weekend’s regular-season finale against rival South Carolina and the following weekend’s ACC championship game against North Carolina.
Still, Clemson’s fumblitis is a concerning trend — and one that loomed large over a 30-point win that clinched a 12th consecutive season of 10-plus victories for Clemson (only Florida State and Alabama have more) and featured a season-best showing from the defense (98 total yards allowed).
“It’s frustrating because I really thought Street and the staff really did a great job,” Swinney said. “On both sides of the ball, our players were in position to be successful … but you’ve gotta make the plays, and there were just a lot of missed plays.”
Not only is it a problem, but it’s a problem touching nearly everybody. Shipley, Clemson’s star running back, has fumbled three times over the past two weeks but lost none of them. Williams, Clemson’s freshman slot receiver, lost a fumble last week and muffed a punt this week.
And Uiagalelei, even when he’s cruising like he did against Miami with 316 total yards and three touchdowns, can’t stay out of the interception and/or fumble categories.
Against the Hurricanes he threw an interception while targeting freshman wide receiver Adam Randall (more on Randall, per Swinney) and got strip-sacked to start the fourth quarter when he held onto the ball longer than he should have on a designed quick pass.
“We really struggled in the third quarter,” Streeter said. “Most of the time it was turnovers. … I just told the guys the only way you can overcome that is to hold yourself accountable and keep playing. Keep playing, and don’t overthink it.”
So frequent and frustrating were Clemson’s offensive mistakes that Swinney gathered the entire unit together midway through the fourth quarter to deliver a message and present a challenge: go down, get a score and get back on track. The Tigers, Swinney said, were “stopping ourselves.”
Final statistics backed it up. Clemson’s 27-6 edge in first downs was its largest margin (plus 21) since producing 22 more first downs than Georgia Tech in 2020, and its 14 of 19 third-down conversion rate (73.7%) was its highest since 2018 against Louisville (87.5%).
That was with Clemson turning the ball over three consecutive second half possessions, including at Miami’s 8-yard line on Allen’s fumble, and following that up with a three-and-out.
Uiagalelei led the first-team offense on an eight-play, 86-yard touchdown drive to go up 33-10 with 4:47 remaining and backup quarterback Cade Klubnik oversaw another to put Clemson up 40-10 with 16 seconds left. Those final drives rounded out Clemson’s eye-popping offensive numbers on an afternoon that could’ve seen even more of them.
Now, with South Carolina and UNC remaining on the schedule before Selection Sunday, it’s crunch time for CFP hopeful Clemson — and, if the team wants to be in the best possible position for the CFP, time to shake the turnover bug. And quick.
“I don’t think it’s an issue,” veteran tight end Luke Price said. “I think we just have to be more intentional … we obviously score when we want, make plays when we want. It’s just staying consistent and staying focused on the job.”
Clemson injury update
Starting left guard Marcus Tate limped off the field Saturday and didn’t return. Swinney said postgame that Tate injured his right knee. The team doesn’t think it’s a serious injury, per Swinney, but can’t be sure before an MRI.
Starting defensive tackle Bryan Bresee also missed Saturday’s game after a bout with strep throat. Swinney said Bresee’s fever has nearly broken and he should be fine going forward.
Starting linebacker Trenton Simpson (ankle), starting right guard Walker Parks (concussion) and backup running back Kobe Pace (ankle) all returned against Miami. Starting wide receiver Beaux Collins missed a second straight game with a shoulder injury he suffered at Notre Dame.
This story was originally published November 19, 2022 at 10:05 PM.
