Was Dabo Swinney frustrated with Wes Goodwin vs. FSU? Clemson coach responds
During Saturday’s loss to Florida State, one TV announcer said Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney threw his defensive coordinator “under the bus” in a halftime interview.
Later in the game, the ABC broadcast also highlighted a heated moment between Swinney and second-year defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin after Clemson burned a timeout in the fourth quarter for a defensive miscommunication.
But Swinney dismissed those moments as nothing more than competitive situations and reiterated his confidence in Goodwin after Clemson lost 31-24 to No. 4 FSU in overtime at Memorial Stadium, falling to 0-2 in ACC play for the first time since 2010.
“I don’t even know,” Swinney. “I haven’t seen the TV so I don’t know. I don’t know if there was frustration. We’re just competing. We’re talking about, situationally, what’s going on. I thought Wes did a hell of a job. There won’t be many teams holding those guys to 17 points, I promise you that. There won’t be many.”
The Tigers defense held up pretty well against a stacked Florida State offense on Saturday, limiting quarterback Jordan Travis and the Seminoles to season lows in rushing yards and passing yards and allowing no points on FSU’s last five drives of regulation.
Swinney also said he felt like Clemson’s defense also allowed just 17 true points in regulation, excluding a 56-yard Florida State fumble recovery touchdown and Travis’ go-ahead 24-yard touchdown pass to receiver Keon Coleman on the first possession of overtime.
Swinney, though, expressed some mid-game disappointment with a unit led by Goodwin, the former defensive analyst he hired to replace longtime defensive coordinator Brent Venables in 2021 when Venables accepted Oklahoma’s head coaching job. Swinney didn’t interview any external candidates for the job.
After Florida State went five plays and 75 yards for a touchdown right before halftime, cutting into Clemson’s then-10-point lead, Swinney critiqued Goodwin’s play calling during a halftime interview with ESPN’s Molly McGrath — specifically, a lack of blitz calls on the drive.
McGrath asked Swinney how Clemson, leading 17-14 at halftime in Death Valley, could “continue to apply pressure to Jordan Travis” defensively.
“Well, we probably need to get out of three-man rush in the two-minute (drill) right there to start with,” Swinney said. “Really disappointed in that. He’s too good to let him hold the ball, and he’s got guys to run around and get open if you give him enough time. So that’s probably the worst thing we’ve done that whole half was that two-minute drive right there. Really disappointed.”
A ‘critical’ miscommunication
In the fourth quarter, with Clemson and FSU tied at 24-24, Swinney also used a timeout after the Tigers what he later described as a “miscommunication” on defense, with a player or two out of alignment on a crucial FSU third-and-19 play.
After “flying down the sideline” to call the timeout at the 7:57 mark, Swinney had some choice words for Goodwin, as highlighted by the ABC broadcast team.
“He wasn’t happy with what they had going on there, obviously,” ESPN/ABC play-by-play man Sean McDonough said. “He came down and got the timeout and he went running back and got right in the face of Wes Goodwin again.
“Not happy with the defensive coordinator,” McDonough added as FSU lined up for a third down play that resulted in a Clemson sack. “Kinda threw Wes under the bus in the interview at the end of the first half as well.”
Clemson used two of its three second-half timeouts early in the fourth quarter after pre-play miscommunications — one on defense, one on offense — and those came back to bite the Tigers on their final drive of regulation with 12 seconds left.
The Tigers had used their final timeout on the preceding defensive drive. After running back Will Shipley ripped off a 13-yard run to FSU’s 48-yard line, the offense didn’t get in position quickly enough to spike the ball, which could’ve set up a Hail Mary or perhaps a long field goal attempt.
Swinney acknowledged postgame that Clemson’s earlier timeouts put the Tigers in a tough spot on their final drive of regulation.
“The biggest one was the” third-and-19, Swinney said. “We had some miscommunication right there, but I’d rather burn it than have a screw-up. The other one (on offense) was not that big a deal, but that one was critical.”
Swinney, though, said he was proud of the Tigers’ defensive effort against an FSU team that only scored once on six second-half offensive possessions before toppling Clemson in overtime to take full control of the ACC.
“I thought Wes did a great job as did our defensive coaches,” he said. “Again, we didn’t do a good job on 2-minute right before the half. But hard to shut them guys down and they did in the second half.”
NEXT CLEMSON GAME
Who: Clemson (2-2, 0-2 ACC) at Syracuse (4-0, 0-0 ACC)
When: noon, Saturday, Sept. 30
Where: JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.
TV: ABC
Line: Clemson by 9 points
This story was originally published September 25, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
