Clemson is currently tied for 60th in the FBS in sacks allowed this season, having given up 14 through seven games. Five of those sacks came Saturday night in the 28-20, double-overtime loss at Miami.
Dabo Swinney met with the media Sunday evening, and after looking back at the film from Saturday’s game, Clemson’s head coach said that the offensive line was solely at fault for most of the sacks the Hurricanes got.
“It was mostly OL,” Swinney said. “We did not protect well. We didn’t pick up the twist game well at all. So, it’s disappointing. We got beat up and inside one time. But mostly OL. Just a poor job. Did not play as well as we need to right there.”
Swinney then expounded on the offensive line play when asked where he believes the problems are within the unit after studying the film from Saturday.
“Really just struggled at one spot,” Swinney said. “I mean, we had some miscues – you play in the offensive line, it’s never perfect anywhere. But it was mostly one spot that we’ve just got to clean up some things and get a little bit better and consistently get to five guys. We had a couple penalties that we need to eliminate, but we gotta look at our personnel. We’ve got a couple guys that we need to play a little bit better for sure, that didn’t quite play like we need them to. We’ve got to make sure that we put our best foot forward there. That’s something we’ll be looking at and seeing if we can improve upon this week.
“Again, when you lose the way we lost and you don’t take advantage of the opportunities, everything gets magnified to the nth degree, as it should. So, we’ve got to certainly – and we’ve played better, but I thought that was probably our worst game in one or two spots there.”
As a follow-up, Swinney was asked for his evaluation of the right guard position, in particular. Clemson lost starting right guard Walker Parks to a season-ending injury earlier this year, and senior Mitchell Mayes has been rotating with freshman Harris Sewell at that spot.
Swinney’s response was simple regarding his assessment of right guard.
“Inconsistent,” he said.
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