Some questions answered, others remain for Clemson

Clemson doesn’t lose games like these — anymore. According to the folks who count such things, this string of 29 consecutive victories over unranked opponents is the longest in the nation.

For this team, the first two games of 2015 served as a “preseason” of sorts before 10 straight against teams that can cause great angst.

Since the schedule doesn’t always oblige, Dabo Swinney was grateful for the opportunity to play his bench against Wofford and App State. A week ago he used 27 first-year players and nearly as many Saturday in the 41-10 win.

The overarching reason for his gratitude was those later games with Notre Dame and Georgia Tech and Florida State and South Carolina that loom. There are still issues with depth at several positions, particularly linebacker and offensive tackle, and kickoff coverage that eventually could bite a team not paying attention to the details.

“After two games, I feel good about where we are,” Swinney said. “To have played as many people as we have … that’s going to help us.

“It wasn’t pretty at times,” he said. “But they’re talented guys who are going to get better.”

Opening at Georgia a year ago, it wasn’t possible to be certain Deshaun Watson was his best quarterback, though there were indications after Watson recovered from a collarbone injury. A game or two against a Wofford or an App State might have changed history.

Since all 12 regular season games all count when the CFB playoff committee huddles to pick the Final Four, Swinney wasn’t willing to gamble.

“It’s not something you can really count on,” Swinney said. “You have no idea. You’re all-in, every single game.”

Coming into this season he knew what he had in Watson, the receivers and backs on offense; and on defense end Shaq Lawson, corner Mackensie Alexander, safety Jayron Kearse, linebacker Ben Boulware and several others.

He also had a pretty good idea that the offensive line might be fine with freshman Mitch Hyatt at left tackle, but he couldn’t anticipate injuries to receiver Mike Williams and safety Korin Wiggins.

“Two weeks in a row, we were able to go deep into our bench. Hopefully, that’s going to pay off for us,” he said. “It was a little frustrating, but that’s the only way we’re going to get better. Right now we’ve got a bit of a drop off in a couple of areas. The bottom line on this game, our backups have got to get better.”

Swinney was asked if he’d begun to detect the team’s identity emerging. A year ago, it was tough and nasty because the defense was relentless and focused. It was able to overcome Watson’s on-again, off-again season.

If anything, Swinney said, this team comes to work.

“I don’t know that we know a whole lot yet,” he said. “We’re supposed to line up and we’re supposed to beat Wofford, and we’re supposed to beat AppState. And we did, in a convincing fashion.

“The biggest thing they’ve proved now is that they can take care of business. They’ve been able to stay focused on the task at hand.”

Talk about Louisville and Notre Dame seemed around every corner. It didn’t help that a TV series on Notre Dame’s season debuted last week.

“They’ve not gotten distracted,” he said. “It’s hard. Everybody’s talked to them about Louisville and Notre Dame and all this and that. And I’m trying to beat App State. But they’ve been a team that’s showed up and ready to play. Hopefully that will continue.”

When you still have questions to be answered and another game in five days, that’s probably all you can ask.

This story was originally published September 13, 2015 at 2:38 AM with the headline "Some questions answered, others remain for Clemson."