Clemson HC Dabo Swinney Reveals Key to Offense Turning Corner

Coming off a satisfying 38-10 blowout victory over North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers are already focused on what’s ahead as they travel even further north to face Boston College this weekend.

Ahead of their fourth consecutive ACC matchup, Swinney spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon, explaining how he’s felt about the run game through five games, and going into detail about where there’s room for improvement.

“As long as we’re throwing for 350 plus, I’ll take that. I’d like to have a little more balance [though],” Swinney said. “I think the biggest thing is we’ve had some good rush games, but this past week, I wasn’t disappointed. I just felt like there was a little bit more there.”

While the Tigers’ passing attack has been explosive, totaling 762 yards and eight touchdowns in the past two contests, the ground game hasn’t seen the same success.

Converted wideout Adam Randall has shown strong flashes at his new position, recording 65 carries for 368 yards and three touchdowns, but inconsistency remains. Clemson’s backfield has lacked depth in production, as other running backs on the roster have combined for just 20 touches this season.

As most fans and analysts have been expressing all season long, for Clemson to fully maximize its offense, coordinator Garrett Riley must develop a more consistent rotation behind Randall to open up both the passing and rushing game.

Looking ahead, Swinney points out that it’s been the little things in the run game that have made the difference between plays that gain a few yards and the plays that get you a first down plus some more.

“We should’ve had a really big quarterback run, but we logged it and reached the guy. It’s a kickout, not a reach, just some little nuances that if you don’t know what you’re watching, it’s not going to make sense to you,” he explained. “Just a few little nuances that we need to clean up, maybe it’s finishing a block, sustaining a block, taking the down guy to the second level as opposed to coming off a little early. There are all kinds of things.”

Swinney knows that the running back room has the talent and effectiveness to grow as the season progresses, as he saw it in three consecutive weeks, rushing for a total of 434 yards in that span. But there needs to be efficiency, and the legendary coach needs to see more of that in Week 7.

Against UNC, Clemson rushed for a measly 89 total yards on 31 touches, averaging 2.9 yards per carry. That’s simply not going to cut it when you play teams like Florida State and Louisville down the stretch of the season.

“Again, I was pleased with the game, but I felt like we should’ve rushed for 115, 120 in that game; we just left a little bit there,” Swinney noted. “The main thing I want to see is just being efficient. As an offense, you’re going to attack what you feel is the defense’s weakness, but you have to be efficient running the ball. Some games you’re going to have more explosives in the run game than the pass, but week to week we want to be precise in what we do, physical at the point and be very efficient.”

As the Tigers head to Massachusetts this weekend, the matchup will be a true test of whether the adjustments Swinney is stressing can be executed effectively under Garrett Riley to produce sustained balance across the offense.