Why Dabo Swinney Blames Himself, Coaching Staff for Clemson's Loss to Virginia Tech

When the Clemson Tigers headed into the half against the Virginia Tech Hokies on Saturday night, head coach Dabo Swinney was candid regarding his team’s performance, being down 10-3.

“It’s all coaching,” he said at halftime. “That’s 100% coaching. Pitiful. . .that ain’t the players. That’s us.”

Clemson eventually lost the game 20-16 to the Hokies at Memorial Stadium, allowing 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to lead to its second ACC loss of the season. Only one quarter for the Tigers had multiple scores, scoring on all three of their drives in the third quarter after making necessary adjustments.

Swinney thinks the offensive unit was able to move the ball a lot better due to making the game simpler for true freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds.

“There was a couple of those in the first half where I just feel like we could have helped him,” he said, “and then we came out in the second half and we took some of those things away. . .and it was very effective.”

The Tigers’ numbers in the first half saw the offense play helpless in the opening 30 minutes. Swinney only saw his team throw for 27 yards, running for an additional 67 yards on the ground to go into the tunnel with under 100 total yards.

After the game, Clemson’s head coach simply added that his staff didn’t put the team in enough winning situations, and only a field goal reflected that.

“I just don’t think we helped them enough to win the game,” he said. “There were some decisions, some play calls, we didn’t help them at all.”

That changed in the third quarter, though. Clemson added 146 total yards to score on all three drives to open the half. Albeit, two were field goals, but the Tigers continued to turn defense into offense to take their first lead of the game.

But then, on the flip side, Clemson’s defense couldn’t help its offense out on its last possession of the game. Virginia Tech used penalties to put together a 11-play, 69-yard drive to retake the lead. The Tigers couldn’t respond to the 10 unanswered fourth quarter points.

Swinney saw the issue being in the turnover margin, which he put on coaching as well.

“We had a couple opportunites to take the ball away,” he said. “Didn’t get it done, and didn’t win the turnover margin even, coming in that was kind of the No. 1 thing for me.”

Now, Clemson moves to 4-3 and is on the outside looking in of a chance to compete for an ACC Championship. The Tigers will go to Florida State on Halloween night with hopes to bounce back with a statement win, but the coaching issues continue to be visible throughout the month of October.

That starts at the top, and the head coach says it’s not how the players performed; Clemson just didn’t make the winning calls.

“Those kids played their butts off. They competed their tails off,” he said. “Yeah, they made some mistakes, but we didn’t help them win the game.”

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