Swinney, Clemson Look to Build More Momentum Following North Carolina Win

For the first time this season, Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney watched his team with flashes from the past.

Clemson scored 28 first-quarter points in its 38-10 win over North Carolina on Saturday. While the Tigers move to 2-3 and pick up its first ACC win of the season, which is late compared to the standard of the program, Swinney is happy with the team’s performance.

“As we always say, the fun’s in the winning, and it was good to see this team win a game,” the Clemson head coach said. “I’m really proud of them. Good start to restart for us, if you will, I thought these guys did a great job with buying into what they needed to do.”

Complimentary football has been one of the biggest points of emphasis throughout the season. When the offense struggled this season, the defense held the Tigers together and vice versa. In the first and second quarter, Clemson’s stint of scoring was followed by the team’s defense forcing three-and-outs.

Because of this, the Tigers went into the half up 35-3, a breath of fresh air compared to the recent first half struggles.

“We have not played much complimentary football this entire year,” Swinney said, “and that’s what you saw from the opening snap.

Swinney was 2-3 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in his second full season with the team in 2010, losing 21-16 to the Tar Heels instead of winning this weekend. Instead of being “frustrated” with the result 15 years ago, he leaves Kenan Stadium a lot more happy with the performance that his team presented.

“I never thought I’d be happy to leave anywhere 2-3, but I’m happy today,” he said, “but I also have a much more mature perspective of knowing that hey, you know what, God’s good all the time.”

Swinney lamented previously that the record is going to define the season instead of the performances, saying constantly that the team is a “couple plays away” from being one of the best teams in the country on paper. However, it’s a step in the right direction.

The Clemson head coach spoke about enjoying the moment, hoping it builds momentum into the final seven games of the season.

“It’s one game, but hopefully we can build some confidence, build some momentum, build some morale, build some competition,” Swinney said. “A lot of guys got to go play and compete, and we got a lot of stuff on tape. I can’t wait to watch the tape.”

He commemorates the team for its practice habits, saying that Clemson prepared with intensity throughout the last two weeks to lead to the much-needed win.

“We have not the start that we want, a lot of disappointment, and for young people to pick themselves up and process that and put in the work, it’s inspiring,” Swinney said. “If you watched us practice this week, you wouldn’t know if we were 1-3 or 4-0, you would’ve never known. . .that’s not easy to do, especially when you have a lot of disappointment to process in the world that they live in.”

He will look to continue to push his team as the Tigers will travel to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, to face Boston College next Saturday night.