Clemson defeated Georgia Tech 43-24 on Saturday and the Tigers played one of their most complete games of the season.
Here is what we heard after the game:
In head coach Dabo Swinney’s post-game press conference, ESPN Reporter David Hale brought up the term “Clemsoning” and Swinney fired back with a passionate response.
“They don’t like it. It is a lack of respect. It is not doing your homework and paying attention to what reality is. I should not be asked that question, period! That’s how we feel about it. This football team right here has earned respect. They have not given us anything. Not one ounce of anything. They have earned everything they got. When I have to turn on the TV and people bring up that word, and they try to casually bring the word up like you do, but it is still the word. It should not even be in the conversation,” Swinney said. “This football team has shown up. What else do they have to do? We have beaten Ohio State. We beat Notre Dame, LSU, Oklahoma, Georgia and Auburn. We have beaten 33 unranked opponents in a row. We are 7-3 vs. top 10 teams. People need to quit talking about that. It is like people are trying to push their own agenda out there. I can’t believe I have to come in here with a 5-0 football team that just had a great win and be (asked) about Clemsoning.”
His rant continued with him bringing up Clemson’s next opponent, Boston College.
“This program does not take a backseat to anybody. We are not better than anybody. We could lose to Boston College. That is the biggest game of the year. They are dang capable of beating us. They had a great chance to beat us last year. We were fortunate enough to win that game, but we won it. If they beat us, it is not because we had some bad, whatever, it is because they beat us. That is football,” Swinney said.
Running back Wayne Gallman gained 115 yards on 13 carries against Georgia Tech, and Swinney said he has been pleased with his consistent performance.
“We have had some good backs around here but Wayne is the first in ten years to have three straight 100 yard games”
Co-Offensive Coordinator Jeff Scott was thrilled with the performance of his offence, especially with how some of the younger, and less experienced, players did.
“As an offense, it just lets your game flow. You’re able to just call the offense and it doesn’t matter who’s out there. You’re not worried about if it’s a young guy, old guy. They’re in the right spot and making the right plays. Then, it just helps their confidence. We’re going to need everybody down the stretch,” Scott said.
Scott also had high praise for tight end Jordan Leggett who had 4 receptions for 56 yards and two touchdowns against the Yellow Jackets.
“I’m so proud of the leadership and he’s playing with toughness. It’s good to be able to reward him, because they’ve got a hard job, those tight ends, because they’ve got to be fullbacks. They really have to do a lot of the dirty work. He’s really a match-up problem for people. It’s good that the last couple of games we’ve been able to get the ball in his hands. He’s really emerging as a playmaker for us,” Scott said.
Leggett was pleased with his performance and said that he is just minding his own business and the ball just keeps finding him.
“When they think we are going to run the ball, we just pull it up and pass it. Every time they think we can’t do something, we are going to do it. We are going to prove to them that they are wrong,” Leggett said.