Everything Important Dabo Swinney Said After Clemson's Win Against Cal

CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson Football got off to a rocky start, suffering its worst margin of defeat under head coach Dabo Swinney in a loss to LSU in Week 1. Since then, though, the Tigers have bounced back with a three-game win streak, beating Georgia Southern, North Carolina, and most recently, California.

Both offenses struggled for most of the game, with the score tied 10-10 late in the third quarter. But complementary football changed that quickly as Bryant Wesco Jr. returned a punt for a touchdown — the Tigers' first in eight years — to take the lead, Gideon Davidson broke off a 75-yard touchdown run late in the fourth, and for the second straight week, Elliot Washington sealed the win with an interception.

That said, there's a lot to talk about regarding the performance and outcome, so it's time to find out what head coach Dabo Swinney had to say following the contest. Here are some of the key quotes from his post-game press conference.

Tait Reynolds' Performance

Friday night was true freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds' second start of his young career, and, as Swinney mentioned last week, it's going to be a work in progress.

While he had a much better performance against the Tar Heels in Week 3, the timeline was eerily similar, as it was a tale of two halves in terms of decision making, with Swinney calling it "early game jitters."

"We did a lot of good things in the game, but I really felt like we kind of made it harder than it needed to be. But, you know, [Tait] just kind of call it early game jitters, if you will — I don't really know," he said. "But he's frustrated as well, just some early game mistakes, things that he's just got to clean up, that's really not hard. I just think he gets a little jacked up. But then he settles down, you know. And so, hopefully we can get him off to a little better start next game."

One of those mistakes was an interception on the first drive of the game, and the other was a fumble on the final drive of the first quarter. When asked about the controversial fumble call, Swinney said he didn't feel it was a fumble, but regardless, it shouldn't have happened in the first place, given the options at hand.

"I mean, they watched it, I honestly thought he was down, you know. All I'm looking at is the Jumbotron. I mean, I thought his butt was down and then the ball, but I guess they saw something different," he continued. "But it just shouldn't happen. I mean, the ball is loose, you know, that was a BIJ — Ball in Jeopardy."

"He's outside the pocket, you know, and it just can't happen. He's holding the ball on an RPO, you know, and he was just a little cloudy; he should've just handed the ball off. Now, all of a sudden, you're holding the ball, you've got to take off, and then just throw it away or just put it away and run. And so the ball's outside of his body and hits, and you put yourself in those situations."

Clemson has yet to win the turnover margin across its first four contests of the year, and Swinney thinks it'd be a much better opportunity for the team as a whole if they do so soon.

Disrupting Cal QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele

With quarterbacks in mind, let's talk about Cal's Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who was a Freshman All-American last year after throwing for nearly 3,500 yards and totaling 22 touchdowns.

Entering the contest, he was the opposing player Clemson had game-planned for most, with Swinney going as far as to say he'll be an NFL quarterback one day. The Tigers' defense executed that plan to perfection, holding Sagapolutele to just 119 passing yards and two interceptions, both hauled in by Elliot Washington.

Where it truly started, though, at least to Swinney, was taking the run game and easy access throws away, forcing pressure on the sophomore quarterback.

"Yeah, well, we took the run game away. I think they had maybe 86 yards rushing, so I think not letting [Sagapolutele] have a balanced attack where they could really run the ball," he stated. "They popped a few, but we really dug in there pretty good on the run game."

"But we took some of the easy access throws away when he was dangerous because you see how that ball gets out there, like, I mean, it's there quick. You can't even hardly react quick enough, and the receiver's already on the move. So, he's got great arm talent. He's accurate. So we just got to challenge the guys, and we held up for the most part, made him hold the ball a little bit, and created some pressure."

The defensive line was a huge part of the outcome, as defensive end London Merritt recorded his first sack of the year while linebacker Jeremiah Alexander — who has been playing on the edge more recently — and defensive tackle Champ Thompson combined for a sack.

The secondary was just as sharp. Projected first-round pick Ashton Hampton totaled three tackles and three pass breakups, allowing just two catches for 10 yards, while Washington was on lockdown of his own, hauling in two interceptions and allowing just one catch for nine yards.

"Great job by our guys, got him sacked a few times, he got out of the pocket once or twice, but guys made plays on the ball," Swinney finished. "We had some PBU's, and again, forced him to have to make some throws on the move and just not let him get in rhythm."

Dominance on the Ground

The best part about Clemson shutting down Cal's run game, which was held to just 86 yards on 22 carries, was that its own run game carried the offense Friday night.

Sophomore running back Gideon Davidson had his second consecutive 100-plus yard performance, totaling 159 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 22 touches, including a 75-yard scoring run that essentially sealed the contest.

+150 YDs for Gideon Davidson 👏@DavidsonGideon ran for 159 YDs and 2 TDs on 22 carries. Heading into the game, Davidson had 187 yards and a touchdown on 37 carries through the first three games@ClemsonFB | @ClemsonTigers | #ALLIN | @DrPepper pic.twitter.com/YV4y4KqROQ
— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) September 26, 2026

"At the end of the day, man, to be able to run the football the way we ran the ball was awesome. I mean, we were a tough football team. And that was probably my biggest objective coming into the season," Swinney said post-game. "I felt like we needed to be a tougher team, especially when it comes to running the football, and to be able to run the ball the way we ran it for 5.2 a carry."

"I think [Gideon], you know, back-to-back. He had 22 for 159 yards, so that's back-to-back 100-plus yard games, a couple touchdowns. Obviously, big, big run. They were kind of taking some chances, and you know, you can bust a big one against coverage like that and [it was] well blocked at the point and just great to see him finish it."

Continuing to speak about Davidson, Swinney noted how much confidence can do for a young player, not to mention how the rest of the team feeds off that confidence and production.

"He's pretty locked in. He's had a couple of great weeks for sure. And that, you know, it's amazing what confidence will do. Confidence is a powerful thing, I mean, it really is. So you could just see he was close," Swinney said emphatically. "He goes from getting his first touchdown to, you know, now he's got two tonight and breaks another long run, so it's a contagious thing. So we're really proud of him, and guys feed off that.”

Offensive Line Excels

There's no run game without an offensive line, and while the group has struggled to begin the season, Week 4 was by far the best performance they've delivered.

Starters Brayden Jacobs, Harris Sewell and Collin Sadler graded out as the top three offensive players from Friday night's matchup. And while they lost Elyjah Thurmon at left guard early on, redshirt freshman Gavin Blanchard stepped in and impressed across 57 snaps, allowing just two pressures and one sack while earning the fourth-highest offensive grade.

Backups Grant Wise and Easton Ware also continued to see the field in limited action, combining for 19 offensive snaps.

To Swinney, offensive line coach Matt Luke excelled in recruiting these players, and while a handful of them are so young, the only way they can get better is by playing, as we discussed earlier this week.

"I think Matt's done a great job of putting the group together," he praised. "We've recruited some guys in here that are just gonna get better. I mean, we love our roster. We really don't have an old roster, we really don't. We got a lot of people on this roster that, you know, have a chance to really grow. And we got another really good recruiting class that we think are going to come in here with it."

"So, some good young talent that the more they play, the better they're going to be. But yeah, you know, I want to see the tape, but you don't rush the ball for 255 yards if somebody ain't blocking people. So I can't wait to watch it."

Impact of Special Teams

Another x-factor in Clemson's win over the Golden Bears was wide receiver Bryant Wesco Jr.'s 65-yard punt return touchdown to give the Tigers a 17-10 lead with under four minutes left in the third quarter.

BRYANT WESCO HITS THE GAS 💨

📺 @ESPN x @ClemsonFB pic.twitter.com/z9TWW9Zaet
— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) September 26, 2026

It was the exact play that gave his team juice for the remainder of the game and was actually the first punt returned for a touchdown since Amari Rodgers' 58-yard return against Boston College in 2018.

"Big plays just create a ton of energy," Swinney said with a grin. "Whether it's defense, offense or special teams, I mean, any time you get a big play but the big plays on special teams, you know, that's the first punt return for a touchdown since '18... and uh, '18 was a pretty good year, too, so maybe that's a good sign for us. But man, he hit it, and he's been close. Wesco's had some moments when you could just see it coming."

He went on to give huge credit to first-year special teams coach Rich Bisaccia, who was hired at the beginning of this year after being let go by the Green Bay Packers.

"Man, just a huge shoutout to coach Bisaccia and the job he's done with our special teams. Again, if there's been anything that's been there every single week, it's been special teams," Swinney declared. "And that makes a huge difference in a ball game. I mean, there's just so many things that go into it — it's ⅓ of the game."

"I mean, we had big kicks, huge coverage again today when we pinned them deep, obviously made a field goal, the return, had a big kick return last week to set up a score. So, special teams have really been very, very consistent for us every game."

Injuries

To round out Swinney's important messages post-game, let's discuss injuries.

Now, we don't necessarily know the exact injuries, but we do know that one is worse than the other.

Offensive guard Elyjah Thurmon, whom we mentioned earlier, suffered a what looks to be a "short-term" injury. Running back David Eziomume, on the other hand, suffered a much more severe leg injury on a kick return, which forced him to be carted off the field.

Everyone is heading over to David Eziomume before he gets carted off.

He had to get his left leg put in an air cast. Tough moment for the Clemson RB.@ClemsonTigerNet pic.twitter.com/R9Ta7aJC7l
— Grayson Mann (@gray_mann21) September 26, 2026

"It didn't look good on [Eziomume]," Swinney told the media. "Thurmon, I think, will probably be short-term. But EZ, it didn't sound good there. I think they felt like it was similar to what Markus Strong had."

When asked if Eziomume would be out for the year, like defensive tackle Markus Strong is, Swinney clarified that they'll have to confirm before anything, but it just didn't sound good based on what he's heard so far.

"That's a tough break for us there," he replied. "So we're gonna have to confirm all that, but it didn't sound good there."

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