Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers came into their season opener looking to spoil Lane Kiffin's LSU debut, but ended up on the other side of a lopsided 51-10 blowout. After the loss, Swinney called it an "incredibly disappointing performance" by his football team, pointing out the specific things he noticed from the sidelines that led to the loss. Clemson's head coach called out both the offense and defense for their part.
"We just never really gave ourselves a chance to settle in. The pick six was really big, as far as a momentum standpoint, but at the end of the day, you're not gonna win if you can't stop the run," Swinney told reporters. "We just did a really poor job of setting the edge, especially versus the stretch and then the quarterback run, which really killed us on third down," he said.
More news: College Football Fans Are Divided Over Jeremiah Smith-Malachi Toney Debate LSU's running back Dilin Jones and quarterback Sam Leavitt each compiled 113 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns, which certainly illustrates Swinney's point about the run defense. "And then on the flip side of it, offensively, no rhythm, poor first down, which led to even worse third down. So, 1 of 13 on third down, not gonna win many football games there," Swinney said.
"So obviously incredibly disappointing performance. ... Not what we worked for." LSU put on a dominant showing to open their season, making Clemson look seriously outcoached and outplayed. They possessed the ball for over 36 minutes compared to under 24 for Clemson, and they made the most of it.
LSU converted 11 of their 16 third downs, including their only fourth-down attempt in a game where they racked up over 600 yards of offense. The defense also stepped up, including the aforementioned pick-six and four sacks on Clemson's quarterback. LSU's huge win came amid the ongoing controversy over Kiffin's attempt to add players who signed NFL contracts and participated in training camps to return for a fifth year of college eligibility.
According to Swinney, they're going to attempt to let this game "develop" them further and "get back to work on Monday," but it's clear this one was a serious wake-up call about Clemson's season ahead. They'll get the chance to turn things around, potentially with their own blowout at home, when they host Georgia Southern on Saturday, Sept. 12. More news: Deion Sanders Gets Choked up Over Emotional Moment With Son Shedeur For more about the Clemson Tigers and college football, visit Newsweek Sports.
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