Swinney Takes Responsibility for Loss

CLEMSON – After a lackluster performance in Saturday night’s 33-21 loss to Louisville, Clemson no longer controls its own destiny.

The Tigers came into the night ranked No. 11 in the AP Poll and unbeaten in ACC play. However, with both Miami and SMU winning on Saturday to remain undefeated in the conference, Clemson finds itself on the outside looking in when it comes to the ACC Championship Game and the automatic berth in the College Football Playoff that goes to the winner.

Dabo Swinney watched his defense gashed to the tune of 210 rushing yards, with the Cardinals averaging almost eight yards per carry. The unit failed to register a sack and did not force a turnover.

On the other side of the ball, the Tigers just couldn’t find any consistency, and were flat-out unable to stretch the field against a Louisville team that came in ranked No. 76 nationally in pass defense. It was a performance that just might end up costing Clemson big when it comes to the postseason.

“We did not play anywhere near our best tonight,” Swinney said. “It hurts. It is a missed opportunity. Huge missed opportunity. We didn’t deserve to win. They absolutely deserved to win and we did not.”

The Tigers were just flat-out beaten and in all three phases, with Swinney shouldering all of the blame.

“We looked like a very poorly-coached team tonight and that’s on me, Swinney said. “Simple as that. Just incredibly disappointed with our performance tonight.”

While the head coach was surely displeased with the fact that his team squandered an opportunity, he was just as disappointed for the fans that were in attendance.

“I thought our fans were awesome and we really missed an opportunity,” Swinney said. “Three things you don’t get back. You don’t get back time, you don’t get back words and you don’t get back opportunity. And this was a missed one tonight, for sure.”

The question now becomes how will his team respond. After a blow-out loss to Georgia in the season-opener, Clemson responded by winning six straight. For his team to finish out on a high note, it will need a similar type of response, and against better competition.

Next up, Clemson travels to Virginia Tech. After that, there is a trip to Pitt, before returning home and finishing up against Citadel and South Carolina. All three of those Power-4 teams have a winning record and the Tigers have just one win over a school that is currently over .500.

“We don’t control our destiny anymore, that is the incredibly frustrating part,” Swinney said. “Because we were right here coming in and now we’re not. But the one thing we can control is how we respond. How we respond. That is what we control. We can’t control anything else. Just got to try and find a way to go win the next one.”

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