Tigers are not about embarrassing opponents-just winning the right way

CLEMSON—Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney shared the reason why quarterback Trevor Lawrence did not play past the 11:55 mark in the second quarter after the Tigers' 52-10 win over the Charlotte 49ers Saturday.

That reason is simple: his goal is not to embarrass the opponent, just to win the game.

"We want to beat the opponent, but we never want to embarrass anyone. We could have won by 100 points if we had left Trevor in," Swinney said.

In the midst of a season, in which Lawrence was the odds-on favorite to take home the Tigers' first-ever Heisman Trophy, it is the definition of a team player for a quarterback to be willing to come out after only one quarter of action in a game that could have boosted his stats. And returned him to the Heisman Trophy talks.

But that is not what the Tigers are about.

"If we leave Trevor Lawrence out there, he could have had all kind of stats and could have been written up for the Heisman this week, but we ain't interested in that," Swinney said. "But we are just interested in winning the game, winning with class and not getting anybody hurt. Those type of things and grow our team."

It is one thing for the coach to say those things. It is another when the players truly take pride in seeing others have success on the field.

“It’s just very unique in the year 2019 to be at a place that has a culture where your stars aren’t worried about their stats,” Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said after the game. “Trevor is honestly not worried about his stats. Travis is not worried about his stats.

“They’ve been a part of championship teams, these championship runs that you want to make. They know it’s a long year, and so this is an advantage – they can go in there and play well, and then be able to get on the sidelines and kind of rest up, let the other guys play.”

Clemson played a school-record 111 players in the contest. The record for player participation in a single game prior to Saturday was 94, set initially against The Citadel in 2017 and again against Louisville last season.

Of those 111 guys, wide receiver Tee Higgins' attitude about giving up his spot on the field for a true freshman exemplifies the selfless nature of the Tiger program.

“I went and asked Tee… I said, ‘You want to go one more series? I really think I want to go ahead and pull you out.’ And he said, ‘Hey, let Joe (Joseph Ngata) and those guys go play,’” Scott said. “It’s great to see the veterans stand up there and really cheer and be engaged and pull for that next group when they went in there. I think that means a lot to them.”

That sentiment was echoed by defensive coordinator Brent Venables, who reminded everyone that the backups work just as hard as the starters and deserve their moment on the field.

“It was a lot of fun to watch those guys get out there and get an opportunity," Venables said. "It was great to reward them when those guys work every bit as hard. Backups, third team, walk-ons and scout team guys, they all deserved that opportunity because they’ve been working about as hard as anybody in the program.”