After the loss to Syracuse last Saturday that left Clemson sitting at 1-3, the Tigers began the bye week by holding a team meeting. Just the players and head coach Dabo Swinney.

By all accounts, it was an emotional meeting, as players shared frustrations over the teams early season struggles. It was cathartic, and defensive tackle Peter Woods said there was one common message.

“It was needed. It was all about responding,” Woods said. “Nobody expected us to start the season off like this. But it is all about how you respond.”

Woods has been in a similar position in the past. As a senior at Thompson High School in Alabama, his team lost their first two games of the season. They would respond by winning 11 of their next 12 games and capturing a fourth straight state title.

With Clemson already having three losses, there will be no national title for the Tigers, but that doesn’t mean they can’t put in the work in an effort to finish strong.

“Where we are at now kind of takes me back to when I was in high school,” Woods added. “At Thompson High School, we won four state championships, and nobody really talked about how we started 0-2 my senior year. The reason for that is because of how we responded.”

It’s been more than two decades since Clemson lost three of their first four games. The last time it happened was way back in 2004, meaning the Tigers have never experienced this kind of start with Swinney at the helm.

After spending much of the bye week looking inward, the Tigers will now begin prep for a road trip to Chapel Hill to face off against Bill Belichick and his North Carolina team who are going through some struggles of their own.

If this team is going to respond, it will need to start against the Tar Heels.

“We’re not going to flinch,” Woods said.

“We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to those seniors, our fans, just to be better. All across the board. It all just comes down to a response. That’s what we plan on doing.”

Photo by Bart Boatwright