Sunday Notebook: Swinney Excited About Tiger Offense, Booth Takes the Bus and Poll Reaction
CLEMSON — While the entire nation is busy lamenting the Tigers winning their last two games by a combined 66 points and wondering what is wrong with the Tigers, head coach Dabo Swinney is excited about where his team stands after Week 7.
"That's back to back great games from our offense. A bunch of guys touched the football. Six different guys scored touchdowns. Travis had 18 rushes and didn't play in the fourth quarter. The biggest thing was back to back weeks of a lot of yards after contact for Travis. I'm so proud of him. Same with Trevor. He averaged almost five yards a carry. We didn't have any drops. Our offensive line was physical; 17 knockdowns.
"Still, a lot of things we can do better. On the outside it looks good, but for us we have a lot of details that we can improve on. We have some individuals who can get better. We didn't execute at wideout very well in our screen game. We mishandled a clock situation right there before the half. But ... all in all, just a great job. Trevor, his leadership, toughness and response to adversity, just really good things.
Lawrence doesn't care what the media thinks: Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence has heard enough negativity and naysaying from the media about his personal play and the play of the offense this season to last a lifetime.
But when it comes to those same people expecting the Tigers to win every game by 50 points, he admits that some of it comes with the spotlight and some of it is him needing to make better decisions.
"I mean, that's just like with everything. Yeah, I think people do kind of expect that (winning by 50 points)," Lawrence said. "But I definitely do think I can play better, you know? It's not just that people expect me to play perfectly, it's not really that. That comes with any spotlight, just being a quarterback. People are going to have those expectations. But, you know, I do need to make some better plays as far as just being a little smarter than today. Take care of the ball better is something that I always want to work on."
Booth takes the bus home: The Tigers fly to every road game. All of the Tigers except those that are in Dabo's doghouse — which is exactly where freshman cornerback Andrew Booth found himself after he was ejected from the Tigers' 45-10 win Saturday at Louisville.
Booth's punishment started before the Tigers left Kentucky.
"Started with making him ride the bus home last night," Swinney said. "He rode back on our manager bus. That's where it started. The rest of it will be handled in-house. And he has responded well. He is disappointed in himself, embarrassed. He has apologized to our team and our AD. He's been extremely remorseful. What happened is way out of character for who he is. Very pleased with how he has taken ownership. He had a long bus ride home last night and plenty of time to think about it."
Tigers in the polls: The Tigers held at No. 2 in the coaches poll.
However, the most surprising poll was the AP, which, for the second straight week, dropped the Tigers from No. 3 to No. 4 after their dominant 45-10 win over Louisville Saturday.
Ohio State took over the No. 3 spot in the AP Poll.
When asked about the Tigers drop, Swinney had a laugh and said, ""No. Nothing surprises me. We won by 28.7 points per game last year after seven games. This year it's 28 points a game. That .7 is elusive. We're chasing that. We'll keep working. I don't really worry about any of that stuff. We just try to work our tails off to get better.
"Everybody can have whatever opinions they want. It doesn't matter. What matters is us closing out October in a strong way. We want to win this division and win this league. What happens after that, hopefully we will be positioned well."
Injury Update: "(No update today. It is just too early. We will access them again tomorrow. Obviously we didn't have Xavier there with us. He is going through the (concussion) protocol. Just some little things here and there. I think for the most part we are in pretty good shape."
