During his weekly teleconference, Dabo Swinney had positive only good things to say about Kelly Bryant.

The freshman quarterback fumbled on his only play in Saturday’s 37-27 win at Syracuse.

It helped kick-start a two-touchdown scoring-run by the Orange, which tied the first quarter score at 14.

“Kelly Bryant’s not a good player. He’s a great player,” Swinney said. “We’ve got to get him going and he’ll get more opportunity.”

Swinney and his offensive coordinators told reporters in Syracuse that Bryant was scripted into the game plan.

“We’re not going to throw a guy away, just because he makes a mistake,” Swinney said. “That doesn’t have anything to do with defense. Defense has got to do their job.”

Trouble on D: Syracuse rolled up 242 yards and three touchdowns on 34 carries.

No Orange rusher had over 100 yards, but four averaged over 5.6 yards per carry. Big plays were the biggest issue on that side of the ball.

Swinney said the Tigers gave up 243 yards on seven plays, only one of which was a pass.

“Really, really disappointed in some of the things we did,” he said. “We had some mis-fits where we didn’t play some things correctly, but we also had some scheme issues. That’s on us, as coaches, so all of us taking ownership and trying to get some things corrected.

“Having said that, like I said (Saturday) night, I don’t want to take anything away from Syracuse, because I thought they did an excellent job of coaching their guys and having them prepared. They executed well. They come out with a little bit of a unique triple-option-type of deal, bringing a guy back into motion with two backs and just did a good job of scheming us up, and it cost us.”

Clemson allowed Syracuse to convert 3-of-13 third-down attempts. Swinney pointed to that and a few individuals as bright spots on the defensive side of the ball.

“Shaq Lawson played excellent. I thought Carlos Watkins played one of his better games. (Kevin) Dodd was very steady. Jaryon (Kearse), it was good to see him get back and have a good game,” Swinney said.

Filling in: Maverick Morris started in place of Tyrone Crowder, who was out with a foot injury.

Swinney thought Morris put in a strong performance as the starting right guard.

“Ryan Norton did good, too. We were able to get Ryan Norton in there for — I think he got in there for 14-15 snaps. I think it was good to get those guys in there, but proud of big Mav. He did a good job for us,” Swinney said.

Jake Fruhmorgen played “15 or so plays” at right tackle.

“Did good, did a good job,” Swinney said.