Dabo Swinney held his weekly press conference on Tuesday, touching on numerous subjects, including Clemson’s season-opening loss to LSU on Saturday night.

The Tigers experienced some struggles on the offensive side of the ball, with Swinney expressing displeasure in how quickly the run game was abandoned.

“We didn’t even try on the run game,” the head coach said on Tuesday from the Smart Family Media Center. “We didn’t even give it a chance.”

Starting running back Adam Randall had just five carries, while backup David Eziomume only had three rushing attempts. Randall’s final carry came early in the second half, and the Tigers passed on their final 19 plays of the game.

With the offense being mostly one-dimensional over a large majority of the second half, LSU was able to amp up the pressure on quarterback Cade Klubnik.

“We didn’t do a great job of helping (Klubnik),” Swinney added. “That is an area that Garrett’s got to do a better job. Got to help him. Never tried. I got to do a better job to make sure it gets done.”

At the same time, Swinney would much rather some things get exposed in a tough opener, rather than seeing some of those issues pop up during the middle of the season.

With Troy coming to town on Saturday, and Clemson more than a 30-point favorite, the head coach is looking for his offense to take the necessary steps in order to see marked improvement.

“That’s how you get better,” Swinney said. “Things get exposed early rather than in game eight. It is right out of the gate.”

Photo by Bart Boatwright