The "Ain't Going to the Beach" Edition

Dabo Swinney says that if Clemson's success isn't good enough, he can coach somewhere else. At 55, "I ain't going to the beach," he said on Tuesday in Tiger Town.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Each time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Swan.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Finally, Clemson Sports Talk has come back. Two drive time.
Hell everybody and Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes the south Land. Clympson
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(01:04):
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(01:24):
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online at mets plumbing dot com. All right, all the gates,

(01:46):
Dabosweeney woh weee long form today up in Tigertown from
Coach Sweeney. We've got some of that up on our
social media accounts already with some of the things dabos
when he talked about during his press conference today. And
it's no surprise, even off of the heels of a loss,

(02:09):
that Sweeny would go fifty plus minutes. I mean, that's
just his mo's not He's not quick on the draw
and I'm out of there. Lengthy had a lot to say.
We'll hear a good portion of that here on the
program as the Clemson Tigers get ready for their matchup

(02:31):
coming up against Syracuse on Saturday. In Death Valley of
Noon Kickoff, Ran Brown had big things to say about
the Clemson Tiger defensive line, some of which I can't
play for you on the air because well it had
to be edited because he was so impressed with the
Climpson defensive line that he dropped the old fire truck

(02:52):
on you. And so with that, we got to be
very cautious with any of we play from Fran Brown
here on the program. Nonetheless, Dabosweeney was fired up today
talking about the fans and the people that might be

(03:15):
tired of winning and the job that he's done, and
I mean it was something to get into and we
certainly will get into that on the program as well,
plus perhaps an opportunity today to hear from Tom Allen
as he met with the media also, And look, there
are a lot of things that Dabosweeny will say that

(03:39):
he is correct about, Like when you talk about how
close Clemson is to winning these games against LSU and
Georgia Tech, he's not wrong in that respect, and he
openly admits that the Tigers don't or haven't made the
plays that are necessary to win those games, regardless of

(04:00):
the outcome, regardless of how you feel about it. And
maybe some of the people point towards the defense and think, man,
the defense can't get on off the field, But the
fact of the matter is it's a defense that gives
up seventeen points to LSU twenty four points to Georgia Tech.
In an offensive era of college football, you should win
those games, and you should win those games because offensively

(04:25):
you should be more productive. But Sweny is right about
the numbers and how close this team is, and the
fact of the matter is that it is fair for
people who look at this team and go, well, they
should be three to zero, versus those people that say, man,
they're lucky, they're that they didn't finish zero to three
at this point. But there's a lot of football left
to be played and a lot of this season yet

(04:47):
to be determined, And all of the criticism is more
than fair. Criticism of the coaching staff, criticism of the
players offense, defense, you want to be critical, Heck, I'll
throw special teams in there as well, because Nolan Hoosier's
missed field goal at Georgia Tech was huge in the end,
his miss field goal against LSU I thought was the

(05:09):
beginning of the momentum swing from Clemson to the Bayou Bengals.
But Dabo Sweeney is right. This team, as disappointing of
a start as it is, isn't all that far gone
the way fans would like to believe it is and
the way fans would like guys like me to talk
about it being. I recognize that this team could have

(05:33):
gone one and two. I talked about that possibility during
the offseason. I certainly didn't believe it would be the case.
But I didn't know that Khalil Barnes would be out.
I didn't know that Antonio Williams would be out. Those
are two big pieces on both sides of the ball.
Not to mention some of the things that you've had

(05:54):
to do on the offensive line as well to revamp
things very early in the season. And so from that standpoint,
not an excuse here by any means, but the reality is,
at full capacity, this team could have been one and two.
But we knew that. You acknowledged that LSU in South
Carolina could bookend your season with defeats. We acknowledged that

(06:16):
Week three in Atlanta was gonna be tougher than it
had been in the previous nine consecutive victories because Brent
Key is doing a jam up job there in building
that program. And you know what, it turns out that
through three weeks, even with the disappointment that you've seen
from Clemson collectively on the field, they were in those
games against teams who we knew they might lose to,

(06:40):
and they did. But I don't think because you lost
to those teams it necessarily means that Clemson is a
bad team. And I do agree with Coach Twiny that
that storylines yet to be determined. A lot of football
left to be played, but it gets started this weekend
against Syracuse and Ran Brown. And I'll tell you this.

(07:01):
I talked about how much I like some of these
coaches when I get a chance to sit down with them.
At the ACC kickoff, fran Brown immediately jumped into my
top ten, maybe my top five in terms of favorite
head coaches to talk to because he was fascinating at
the ACC kickoff in my opinion, and so I expect

(07:22):
Syracuse to venture into Death Valley and give Clemson everything
they've got. I don't expect them to lay down. I
don't expect them to just roll over and let Clemson
waltz their way up and down the field. I think
They're gonna make it a very challenging environment, and I

(07:43):
think that's good for Clemson. I think that's good for
Clemson because the Tigers need to be pressed. Seventeen and
a half point favorites in this ballgame are your Clemson Tigers.
I mean it's a shocking number. Now, Syracuse in fairness

(08:03):
at two to one, not exactly going through a murderer's row,
beating Yukon and Colgate. They got run through by Tennessee
and the opener over in Atlanta forty five to twenty six.
But remember that Yukon game had an interesting twist to
it with the fact that the Huskies took that match

(08:24):
up to overtime and ultimately after the game. You might
recall we ran a segment here on the program where
where fran Brown has his guys running. That's right, running
after the game with fans in the venue watching. So

(08:47):
he's a coach that I think is destined for a
bigger program and with job openings already in the world
of college football, including one at Virginia Tech in the
Atlantic Coast Conference, Like, I don't know who gets that
VT job, And I don't know if fran Brown sees

(09:08):
Virginia Tech as better than Syracuse, but I certainly do.
And with more jobs potentially coming open on the horizon,
unless the wheels just absolutely fall off for the Syracuse Orange,

(09:33):
I think fran Brown, sooner rather than later, is destined
for a bigger power for gig. And mind you, he's
got recruiting I mean just recruiting teeth all over the country.
With the job that he's done as a recruiter, one
of the most desirable recruiters out there. If there was

(09:58):
ever a guy that bounced back into the assistant coaching gig,
believe me, coaches across the Southeast would salivate to bring
a guy like fran Brown in your program, to go
out and recruit and bring players in. Yeah, he's he
is a really cool guy. And listen the audio. I

(10:23):
wish I could play what he had to say about
Clemson's defensive line. I could certainly beep it. But yeah,
he's funny, he's charming, He's thoughtful and focused and determined.
You can tell he listens, he's genuine. There's a lot

(10:47):
to like. I mean, there's really a lot to like
about Fran Brown. Now, his quarterback is Steve Angeli. You
might remember Angelie as one of the backup quarterback at
Notre Dame a year ago, got a little bit of
a run. Angelie has already thrown for over one thousand

(11:07):
yards this season for the Orange. Looking at his numbers,
just a sixty four point nine percent QBR rating, but
he's got eight touchdowns on the season, offset by just
two interceptions, and over one thousand yards through three games.

(11:30):
If you multiply that out right times four, this is
we're heading into the second quarter of the season. As
Dabosweny noted today, If you multiply that out by twelve games, right,
or multiply it by four essentially, at this point, Angelie

(11:53):
is on pace for more than four thousand yards passing
thirty two touchdowns at eight interceptions, which that would be
a spectacular, spectacular season for him if he can do that.
I don't know how many quarterbacks in Syracuse history have

(12:15):
ever clipped thirty, five hundred or four thousand yards passing
in the season, But if he continues to play the
way he's playing, he'll have a chance to do that.
He threw for two hundred and seventy four yards against Tennessee,
four hundred and sixteen against Yukon, and then three hundred

(12:36):
and eighty two this past weekend against Colgate, and right now,
you know, Qualk was on the program yesterday talked about
KI club Nick and k club Nick's numbers. One thing's

(12:57):
for sure, I mean, at this point, and he's played
some tough competition in LSU specifically more than anybody else.
It's kind of hard. It's kind of hard not to
feel like, you know that LSU defense is gonna be

(13:18):
a tough one that teams are gonna have to face.
I mean, look a look at what they did this
past weekend to DJ Lagway, who prior to that game
I mean, there were some Clempson people out there. There
were some Clempson people out there saying, Hey, you know what,

(13:39):
let's let's bring in DJ Lagway next year. Obviously, Billy
Napier seems like he's in a lot of trouble, so
on and so forth. DJ Lagway goes thirty three of
forty nine with a touchdown in two hundred and eighty
seven yards passing, and you might go, yeah, buddy, sign

(14:02):
me up for that. Well, normally, when you go thirty
three of forty nine, that means there were sixteen passes
that ended up on the ground somewhere. Well, I hate

(14:25):
to tell you, but only eleven of those passes hit
the ground. Five interceptions. DJ Lagway was intercepted five times
in that game. Now, that doesn't change that. Some of
you might say, well, I'd still like him, Swanee because

(14:47):
he reminds me a lot of Toshaun Watson. He reminds
me a lot of Watson and what the way Watson
played the game. And he might and Clemson recruited in
pretty heavily, But a five interception performance at this point
in your career, I don't really care who you're playing.

(15:12):
That's enough for me to say, yeah, you know what,
maybe we'll just stick with what we got, eh, you
know what, We'll take our chances down the road with
Christopher Zena and I do I do hate in some ways.
I hate that Zina hasn't gotten an opportunity. And we

(15:36):
kind of touched on this with williamqwalkin Bush yesterday, like,
is Kate Klebnik untouchable because of his his contract and
the amount of money that he's making. You hate to
believe that that would be the case, because ultimately the
goal for players was to get paid. It does not

(15:58):
necessarily have to be that you get to play. But
I think there is a factor that resides in the
brains of people that you just can't help that. Man,
if we're paying this guy this money, don't we have
to play him? Doesn't he have to be our guy?
Can our guy be on the bench and another person

(16:21):
be the starter? And then I think you also have
to factor in with the transfer rules and everything that
have come into place, And that will be something to
watch with UCLA and Virginia Tech, because if you haven't
played four games, you can transfer, you can red shirt

(16:43):
save your year. How many of those guys at Virginia
Tech and UCLA who have both fired their coaches just
three games in. That means every player on those rosters
is eligible to come back for another year. This year

(17:04):
would not count if they wanted it not to count.
But back Tovezena for a minute. And I have no
idea what Christopher Vesina is making, so let's just use
some rough numbers. Let's say kid klub Nick's making three million,
and let's say with Zena's making seven hundred thousand. If

(17:30):
you backed off of CAD right now and say, ah,
we're gonna go to Vezena, could Zena not at that
point say you're gonna have to pay me more? Now,
you'd like to think that the guys you have on
your team don't have that kind of attitude. But wouldn't
it behoove him at that point to say, no, no, no,

(17:52):
If you're gonna want me to be the starter, you
gotta pay me like a starter if I'm moving up
and in because this is not you know, hey, a
one year contract, or excuse me, this is not a
multi year deal. This is a one year contract. This
is a quick change and I'm out of here. Oh

(18:13):
you want me to be the starting quarterback, but you
won't pay me what I think I'm worth, and I
think I'll just hit the portal and preserve my year.
Like at this point, Zina's got Clemson by the screws.
If they want to run him out there and annoin
him as the new starter, even after he plays four games.

(18:36):
I mean, at that point he does lose some of
his leverage, but not all. You could just say, well, no,
I'm not gonna do it. You put me in the game,
I'm not gonna do it. You gotta pay me like
the guy. If I will be the guy, and if
that's the way players feel, or if that's something that players.

(18:57):
And this is not saying that Zina is like this, right.
I just you know, somebody texted me yesterday. I think
it was Tiger Chuck and he said, because I was
talking about, you know, Clemson, I felt like would have
to run the table and even then they can't control
their own destiny. And Tiger Chuck was likehy, I run
their own run the table. He's like, Swanny, I can't
believe you're talking about that. But then he said, I

(19:17):
understand you have to talk about hypotheticals. And I do.
That's the nature of this business. But hypothetically, across the country,
number two quarterbacks who get vaulted into the starting spot,
I think they'd be foolish not to say, hey, look,
you gotta have to pay me a little bit more.

(19:39):
I gotta be paid because I'm gonna be dealing with
scrutiny and everything that comes along with it. So I'm
gonna need a little bump. And I get that, all right.
I told you. Dabos Sweeney was Lenkedy and Dabos Sweeney
was saying some things that are gonna blow your mind.
Will have some audiear from Tigertown for you around the
bench and stay with us, rocking and rolling along Clemson

(20:02):
Sports tall lot and Swan Dabo Sweeney fired up today.
Lots to get to from Dabo Sweeney's time with the
media up in Clemson, and you know how we like
to slice it and dice it for you. One thing
he did say, though, and it's up on our social

(20:23):
media accounts Sweeney says. In this statement, he says, quote,
I mean, if Clemson's tired of winning, they can send
me on my way, but I'm gonna go somewhere else
and Coach I ain't going to the beach, and Dabo
talked about, Hey, I'm only fifty five, y'all have to
deal with me a lot longer. We'll let you hear
some of that audio from Daboswheney coming up in just

(20:48):
a little bit, but first, here are some of his
opening comments as Clemson gets ready to entertain Syracuse in
Death Valley this weekend at noon.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
Excited to have another opportunity this week.

Speaker 4 (21:00):
Obviously we've not had the start that we that we
hope for work for, you know, to this point, you know,
just the first quarter. You know, we got a lot
of football left, a lot of opportunity left. We'll kick
off the second quarter this week and still looking for
our best game, still looking for four quarters of complimentary football.
We've not done that yet, and we've we've seen it

(21:20):
in spots the first half of l s U game
two quarters of good complimentary football and then the last
half of the Troy game two quarters of good complmentary football.
But outside of that, we just haven't put it together.
And that's what it's going to take for us to
kind of get back on track. Another great opportunity this
week to go play and see if we can find
a way to win a game, and that's that's really

(21:41):
our focus is just trying to play our best game,
trying to you know, continue to learn and grow from
mistakes and things we've got to do better, know that
we can do better. You know, for us, there's a
lot of disappointment, you know, where we are at this point.
They don't cancel the season after the first quarter. They
don't call ball game off at the first quarter. We
got a long way to go. Uh, but it doesn't

(22:03):
get any easier. Every game is is is a battle,
and we're definitely you know, got our backs against the wall,
and we put ourselves in a hole and we got
to find a way to get ourself out of it.
And you just got to do it, you know, one
one one week at a time, one play at a time.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
And so that's Dabo Sweeney again earlier today in Tigertown
talking about this clips the team as they get ready
for the Syracuse Orange and Fran Brown to roll into
Tigertown for that game this weekend. At noon, here's Dabos
Sweeney talking about what he's seen from Froan Brown's squad
so far.

Speaker 3 (22:39):
Doesn't get any easier.

Speaker 4 (22:40):
Syracuse is is a really good football team. They're undefeated
in the league, so you know, we we know, hey,
we've got a loss in the league.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
So we've got we've got zero room for error.

Speaker 4 (22:51):
Uh, so we we've got to find a way to
to you know, win a ball game. And Syracuse is
coming in here off of uh you know too good
wins and one of them in overtime.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
Very tough football team, well coached. You know.

Speaker 4 (23:05):
Fran Is is uh a guy that I got a
lot of respect for and uh, you know, his team
plays really hard. I mean, these guys are physical. They
are physical as crap on both sides of the ball.
They fly around, uh and uh you know, we'll get
after you so offensively, Uh, they're they're they're another challenge.

(23:26):
I mean that they play with a ton of tempo.
Snap the ball eighty plus times. I mean, they're playing
really really fast. They've done a good They've got some
length outside, they're huge up front. The quarterback came in
from he was the backup at Notre Dame, and he's
done a heck of a job. I think he I
think they're third in the country in passing offense and
he might be leading the nation in passing. You know,

(23:48):
that doesn't mean they throw they get off the bus
throwing it all over the park, And it doesn't mean
they don't run the ball. Everything really starts with them
running the ball to pass the ball.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
That's Stablos when you talking about Syracuse now the established things.
He also talked about Syracuse's running back and feeling like
he really kind of fits the mold of a film
MafA tight back. And when you look at his stats
this season, you send Willis with just one hundred and

(24:19):
thirty nine rushing yards on thirty four carries, but four
touchdowns this year, averaging four point one yards of carry,
six foot one, two hundred and thirty five pounds. The
sophomore Willis here swinging on what he feels like Willis
brings to the table for the Orange.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
You know, the back is kind of like MafA.

Speaker 4 (24:39):
He's a two hundred and thirty five pounds back, big
thick kid, strong downhill runner.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
But every run, every run they have is an RPO.

Speaker 4 (24:48):
I mean everything, the kid can pass it every snap,
whether it's a screen, a true RPO, second.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
Level or third level read.

Speaker 4 (24:57):
And then you know a ton of play action shots
move him out of the pocket and a bunch of dropback.
I mean they whether it's an empty or it's tight sets,
you know, whatever it is. You know, again watching the
quarterback after three games, Uh, he's a really good player.
Big challenge for our defense. A lot of shots. I
mean they'll they'll again move the pocket all over the place,

(25:17):
free release the back, the backs of factor in the
passing game as well. So we've got to find a
way to you know, affect the quarterback. It's just that simple.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
I mean, he's a.

Speaker 4 (25:26):
Guy that can really he can beat him. So a
big challenge there.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
Again, that's Dabos when you talking about Syracuse as they
get ready to come into Death Valley this weekend, getting
that match up a high noon kickoff for Tiger fans
and frustrating high noon kickoff. I know Clemson fans are
a little bit worn out on that. ESPN is where
you can find it. Here's a little bit from Dabosweny

(25:54):
on the Syracuse defense.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
They got.

Speaker 4 (25:57):
They got a bunch of dudes around the ball, so
played really really hard, and they've got good skill on
the back end, a really good front. They've got one
the one kid number eight. I think it's his maybe
his eighth year in college. Uh, he's he's a problem.
He's got some some really good athleticism and length. He's
he's been a very effective big inside. Uh So you know,

(26:20):
I really like all their players.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
There you go. That's some of Dabo Sweety's time with
the media earlier today and again we'll have that full
audio on our website, Clymses Sports Saul dot com. But
we're gonna give you some juice in the next segment.
I I can't remember how long it is. It may
go the full the full thing, though, I'll tell you this,
Dabo Sweety flat out went off today on all the

(26:44):
criticism that people have for his program and where these
guys are starting off the year one and two. So
we'll definitely have that for you coming up in just
a few minutes as the Tigers get ready for this
matchup again this weekend, looking at a bounce back from
a staggering and disappointing loss at Georgia Tech this past week,

(27:06):
as the Tigers gave up a fifty five yard walk
off field goal that allowed Brent Keys Yellow Jackets to
win for the first time in nine meetings against your
Clympson Tigers, which is just, quite frankly, a staggering number
anytime you beat. I mean, these are power four teams.
You know, it's funny people. I don't hear people talking
about the acc and how bad it is when Clemson's

(27:27):
not winning the way they once were, Like that was
a narrative for a while. Anyway, when we come back,
Dabbo's got some big words. Keep it locked, rocking and
rolling along with you. Clemson a sports saloon swan. I
know Dabo sweeneys that, Gabbo schweney. I don't know why
I got a little shard like that, but I know

(27:47):
Dabo Sweeney's sticked. I think that's where it came from.
Can get a little bit tired with some of the
things that he will say, but there's a lot of
things that he says that I know you get tired
of hearing, but I still will go. You know, he's
not wrong on that. He's really not wrong on that.
Here and some people say, well, that's rear view mirror living, Dabbo,

(28:09):
I thought we were windshield mentality guys. I get that too.
But here's Dabbo defending his program against critics who feel
like the Tigers have completely fallen off of the map,
rocking and rolling along with you, Clemson a sports saloon swan.
I know Dabo sweeneys that, Gabbo schwenye. I don't know

(28:29):
why I got a little shit canard like that, but
I know Dabo Sweeney's sticked. I think that's where it
came from. Can get a little bit tired with some
of the things that he will say, but there's a
lot of things that he says that I know you
get tired of hearing. But I still go, you know,
he's not wrong on that. He's really not wrong on
that here. And some people say, well, that's rear view

(28:53):
mirror living, Dabbo, I thought we were windshield mentality guys,
I get that too. But here's Dabbo defending his program
against critics who feel like the Tigers have completely fallen
off of the map.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Let's go find a way to win a game, play
the season out. And that's the reality is. We've had
one bad season here, and in seventeen years as a
head coach, we've had one bad season. That was twenty ten.
I mean, that's just the facts. And we won six
games and that was a really painful year. We had
five losses by six points or less. Five won to

(29:26):
the national champion at Auburn. That was a painful loss.
And then those of you who were around here, y'all
remember at Florida State that year.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
I mean that was man.

Speaker 4 (29:36):
That was a guy kicked it from like seventy Dustin Hopkins,
I think was his name. I'll never forget it.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
Man, that was it.

Speaker 4 (29:48):
Yeah, it would have been good from seventy. I just
know we led the whole game. They never led in
the game, and we get a pass interference I think
it was on Chris Chancellor or somebody at like third and.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
Since of all, I was like third and.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
Seventeen and they call a PI, which put them in
position to kick this heroic field goal.

Speaker 3 (30:08):
And it's tough, man.

Speaker 4 (30:10):
So I mean, listen, I know everybody's frustrated, but seventeen years,
we've had one bad season one and I was six wins.
The worst season we've had in fourteen years is nine wins,
and that's happened one time.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
And it's not that we haven't had bad moments.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
It's not that we haven't had highs and low We've
had highs We've had lows, We've had bad moments, and
I would say this is a bad moment, this is
a bad little stretch, this is a low.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
But we've always responded and.

Speaker 4 (30:35):
That's how we've been able to We've had fourteen years
in a row with a postseason win. I mean we've
been We're not perfect, and this ain't that. We've been
in this situation many times. I mean, I said this
last night. And we started out two and three. In
my first year, it was pretty negative around here. First
of all, people that want me to get the job.
So then you come out and go two and three.
That don't help things. And it wasn't a very good thing.

Speaker 3 (30:54):
Tim. Was it negative then? Tim? They talking bad about
ol' cooke Sweeney. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (30:58):
Well we went to the champampionship in twenty ten. Oh boy,
we won six games, and the way cares that. But
I was more encouraged in twenty ten than I had
ever been because, I mean, we lost five games by
six points or less, and I'm like, man, we're on
the right track. I'm like, dang, these freaking dudes I
make the leadership. I could see the culture.

Speaker 3 (31:16):
We're right there, and to just kind of learn how
to win.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
But Larry, you were probably talking really bad about me
in ten, like ripping me. This guy's an idiot? What
are we doing? Confirmed? Affirmed, Confirmed. And then twenty eleven, Hey,
what happened? We started out eight to oh and win
the acc But what happened?

Speaker 3 (31:33):
He here?

Speaker 4 (31:33):
We lost four out of six, gave up seventy in
the Orange Bowl, but we didn't, you know, close up shop.
We came back the next year and went eleven to two,
lost to Florida State, lost to South Carolina.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
We came back the next year in twelve.

Speaker 4 (31:45):
And lost to Florida State, lost to South Carolina.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
You know thirteen, y'all, remember we're eight to o and.

Speaker 4 (31:52):
We got the taj Boyd showdown and he's running boots
when we're calling zone and we're throwing pick sixes, and
it was just a disaster, right we're egging his house.
I mean, it was like, you know, the world, it
was a bad That was a bad moment.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
That was a low.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
But you know, we ended up being eleven and two
and beat Ohio State and Orange Bowl and we lost
five in the road to South Carolina.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
Boy, that was bad. I don't recommend.

Speaker 4 (32:16):
That that was really really bad, but you know, we
just kept going. And then in fourteen we started out
wanting too. You know, we got this good team, were
supposed to be good. We were like probably a preseason
top fifteen team, and fourteen and got all these guys back,
all these seniors, and Todd Gurley ran just freaking ran
through us in the fourth quarter down there in Athens.
And then we got to go to Tallahassee and same thing.
Lead the whole game, y'all remember that. I don't know

(32:38):
I y'all remember that game. First and goal on the one.
It's never happened to me in my life. Hopefully it
never happens again. First and goal on the one, and
we ended up punting. We punted, snapped the ball, and
then we get sacked. First and goal on the one,
and we punted, and then we said we're gonna kick
the game winning field goal. We're inside the twenty or
twenty five or so, and we fumbled the ball.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
So it goes to overtime.

Speaker 4 (33:00):
Now they freaking run that back off to the left
side right there, and I mean, you know, it's like
you're woning two.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
That wasn't what we worked for.

Speaker 4 (33:07):
But you know what that team rally Man finished ten
and three, beat Oklahoma forty to six in the bowl game,
and then we went on a five year run, greatest
run in the history of college football.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
But guess what.

Speaker 4 (33:19):
In sixteen, we lost one bad and it was miserable,
and it's all over the world's coming apart. Then in
seventeen we battled, lost a couple lost up there at Syracuse,
wor world's over. Eighteen and nineteen we won twenty nine
in a row. Twenty one, we have a pick six
to the national champion. We lose ten to three. Were

(33:40):
losing double overtime at NC State, double overtime. You know,
guy makes a one handed catch falling down. And then
we played bad at pitt But we're ten and three.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
We didn't quit.

Speaker 4 (33:50):
We battled twenty two. We come back and win the league,
you know, twenty three, you know, two hundred plus, two
hundred plus, first time ever to lose a game like that.
At Duke, we lose in overtime and lead the whole
game against Far States, act ball falls out of the
sky touchdown, losing overtime, double overtime at Miami. I mean, listen, man,
I'm at pick six at NC state, we're four and

(34:11):
four and you got notre dame.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Are you going to do? You quit? No? We fight.

Speaker 4 (34:14):
We're a great program because we've always responded. And we
finished nine and for us, the worst season we've had
in fourteen years. How many ads would sign up for that?

Speaker 2 (34:23):
So I warn you rather lengthy, a lot of rear
view mirror living from the windshield mentality head coach. But
I think there's perspective in what he's trying to say there,
and he's got more to say. He'll talk about, Hey,
you don't like it, I can go coach somewhere else.

(34:44):
You'll hear that coming up around the bend. But I
think what Dabosweeney is trying to say is that listen, guys,
I know the angst and the concern and the stress
and the pressure that the fans put on themselves in
this team, but we've responded every time you've counted this

(35:05):
out in the past fourteen years, we've responded. More from
Sweeney final segment, next final segment of our one Clempsones
Sports Talk. I don't think we're gonna have a game
caught guesting our number two. That's all right, no worries.
We'll figure that out later. We may reset a little
bit of qualt from yesterday. We'll see. Anyway. Davos Sweeney

(35:27):
met with the media and one of the things he
talked about was this, you know, just the whole like, hey,
you know he just finished that last statement before the
breakabout you think athletic graders wouldn't sign up for what
we've done here, and that sort of sit him down
down this path. And this is where Davos when he

(35:47):
really accelerated the conversation in Tigertown today.

Speaker 4 (35:51):
If we stink because we haven't played for the national
championship since January of twenty, well I guess we stink.
Or we haven't won it since January of nineteen. We
haven't won the national championship, Well, then I guess we stink.
But why we held a different standard from all these
other teams out there who ain't ever won nothing. We're
not perfect, and we may suck this year, we may

(36:12):
lay a freaking egg and go six and six, But
I don't think so. And I know that's going to
disappoint a lot of people, but I don't think so.
All Right, The reason we are I think the best
program in college football is because we've always battled, we've
always responded.

Speaker 3 (36:28):
We are not perfect.

Speaker 4 (36:30):
We've had some bad moments, we've had some bad little stretches,
we've had some lows, and this is one of those.
But we have a consistency, and we have a will
to win and a fight and a program that is,
to me, the model in all of college football.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
Our kids graduate. We got great people.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
They compete their butts off, they fight to the end,
they respond. That's why we're here. It's not that we've
never had adversity. We've had lots of adversity. When I say,
this program was built from adversity and for it. That's
why I've lived it. So I got faith. I got

(37:07):
faith because I've seen it. And again, uh, you know,
I got faith in the storm. And that's this this
a little bit of a storm. It's disappointing again. And
we could go schedule East University, West University, in South
University and and everybody's all happy and peachy right now.
But hey, we gotta, we gotta, we were We want
to win at the highest level here. That's a part

(37:29):
of the process. It's always been a part of the process.
And you got to take the good you gotta take
the bad, and right now we're in the bad with
a walk off fifty five yard or and a very
disappointing opportunity that we missed in the first game. Uh,
but you give them credit, man, I give those those
teams deserved it, they earned it, they want it, and
you know, let's respond like we always have and let's

(37:51):
let the story be written.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
It's gonna be okay, it's gonna be.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
Like final thing from daboswinga to get in this full
audio on our website clips sports dot com. This is
where he got a little further down the line and
start talking about, Hey, you know what, if Clemson's tired
of winning, I can go coach somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
If they want me gone, they.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
If they tired of winning, they can send me on
the way, because that's all we've done is win. So
if they tired of winning, we've had. We've won this
league eight out of the last ten years. Is that
not good? I'm just asking is that good? I don't
know if that's good or not. To win your league
eight out of ten years, to go to playoffs seven
out of ten years, being four national championships, went twice. Yeah,
we little down right. Now take your shots. But I

(38:31):
got a long memory in case y'all don't.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
Know, We'll be all right. We'll bounce back.

Speaker 4 (38:36):
This is a program built to last, always has been,
always will be.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
And I would just say, if you give.

Speaker 4 (38:42):
Up on us, if you don't believe on us, because
we've lost two games down to the last trade and
we're wanting.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
You didn't believe in us anyway, so it don't matter.
You wasn't all in anyway. If you all in, you
burn the ships. Man.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
There ain't no exit strategy like you're freaking all in.
And hey, listen, I mean since tired of winning. They
they sent me on my way, but I'm gonna go
somewhere else. And coach, I ain't going to the beach. Hell,
I'm fifty five. I got a long way to go.
Y'all gonna have to deal with me for a while.
I had a long way to go. I'm just getting going.
I'm just now good enough to be a head coach.

(39:16):
I'm just now figuring it out. We'll be around a while.
I was hanging in there. That's it, man, God look
seventy uh yeah, I think I'm I'm that's about it, right,
around the Raid age. I think coach Stallings was. I
think he was maybe he was right around that age,
fifty five fifty six something like that.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
When he came to Alabama, I think coach was coach saving.

Speaker 4 (39:39):
He's probably probably about that fifty five or so when
he got to Alabama. He coached for thirty two years
in tuls Close. It seemed like I got a long
way to go, boys, a long way to go. Hate,
disappoint all the haters out there, But uh, ain't nothing
gonna steal my joy. Ain't nothing gonna steal my joy.
I ain't happy, but it ain't nothing gonna. Happiness is

(40:00):
based on results you get, right, But joy is something
that's deeper within, and that's that's what That's what I
build my life on. So I'm way too blessed to
let it still my joy.

Speaker 3 (40:11):
It's frustrating.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
So there you go, just some perspective from dabos winning.
A lot of those comments I know met by Clemson
Tiger fans with kind of oh yeah, here we go again,
raw Rod Dabo. But I'll go back to like, there's
nothing he says there none of that that is factually untrue.

(40:35):
The stats, the numbers, the way the games played out,
the way the media felt, the way you the fans
felt about so many of those seasons and moments when
maybe there was some adversity, and maybe how you felt
about some of those seasons and moments when they're what'
Like I wrote about this the other day, it's very
strange to try to have a good lens on this team,

(41:00):
in this program when they had a stretch. Now it's
been five years, but they had a stretch where they
went seventy nine and seven, seventy nine and seven, and
so what seventy nine and seven does is it makes
ten and three feel like you got the breakspeat off

(41:22):
of you. I mean, it's it's weird how that happens
because seventy nine and seven is such an elite number.
I mean that's when in eighty games, essentially out of
eighty seven ball games, who does that? Who does that? Now?

(41:44):
Where the concern, I think, and rightfully so comes in
is the fact that we are in a new era,
this nil era of college football. This is not two
thousand college football, This is not twenty fifteen college football. Like,

(42:07):
this is a whole new era. And that's where I
think people are right in having their flags up a
little bit, or as daboswing, you might say, their antenna's
run up a little bit. About this Clemson team because
this is a new era. Regardless of what you did
in the past, it's a new era and how do
you handle it? And I think that's still the major
question in Clemson. Stay with us, it's.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Time or Clemson Sports Talk with Luwton Swan.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Swanny. Now it is our number two. That's drivetime right

(43:12):
on the show. The shakeseare south Lay and Clemson Sports
Law and the Swan hanging out with you on a
Tuesday afternoon, all right, just going through some stuff with
the Dabos Sweeney take and the comments and and things
of that nature. Man, a lot of people fired up
on social media about what he had to say, and

(43:35):
we posted it over on our Twitter account. By the way,
the show The Shakespeare South Lane and brought you in
part our good friends over at mets Plumbing mets Plumbing
dot com two two six seven, that's Mets Plumbing two
two six seven. Anyway, I'll play the audio for you again,

(43:55):
just the quick snippet that we put out on social media,
and then we will have to get to a little
bit of qualt because of the time, because I was
I'm not gonna lie to you, not gonna lie. I
got a little actually you know what, No, no, no, forget that,
forget that. I can make this work. It's just gonna
have to be some Q and A with Clemson defensive

(44:15):
coordinator Tom Allen because I gotta make up a little
bit of time. Not much a smidget, a pinch, a
dash if you will. But anyway, I'm gonna get some
of your comments on this as well. Here's Dabosweeney earlier
today responding to the critics about this Clemson program. We
played it for you just before the break. But if
you're just joining us in the car, buckle up, no doubt,

(44:38):
buckle up.

Speaker 3 (44:40):
If they want me gone, they can.

Speaker 4 (44:41):
If they tire of winning, they can send me on
the way, because that's all we've done is win. So
if they tired of winning, we've had. We've won this
league eight out of the last ten years. Is that
not good? I'm just asking is that good? I don't
know if that's good or not. To win your league
eight out of ten years, to go to playoffs seven
out of ten years, being four national championships went twice. Yeah,

(45:02):
we little down right. Now take your shots, but I
got a long memory. In case y'all don't know, we'll
be all right. We'll bounce back. This is a program
built to last, always has been, always will be.

Speaker 3 (45:14):
And I would just say, if.

Speaker 4 (45:16):
You give up on us, if you don't believe on us,
because we've lost two games down to the last trade
and we're wanting. You didn't believe in us anyway, so
it don't matter. You wasn't all in anyway. If you
all in, you burn the ships.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
Man.

Speaker 4 (45:28):
There ain't no exit strategy like you're freaking all in.
And hey listen, I mean Clempson's tired of winning. They
send me on my way, but I'm gonna go somewhere else,
and coach, I ain't going to the beach. Hell, I'm
fifty five. I got a long way to go. Y'all
gonna have to deal with me for a while. I
had a long way to go. I'm just getting going.
I'm just now good enough to be a head coach.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
So there you go. Fiery Dabo Swingy for sure. My
favorite moment, my favorite moment of that. If I'm just
being fair, it's edited out of that three, he says,
I'm only fifty five. Somebody says, I don't know if
it's one of the younger members of the media. Somebody
in there goes, you're only fifty five. Tapo responds, well,
I look seventy or something. Now, I did have to

(46:11):
cut that out because I had to trim it down
a little bit. But that's over. On all of our
social media accounts follow us everywhere everywhere. That has got
about a one hundred and I don't know, forty thousand
views something like that at this point. Ridiculous numbers on that,
but anyway, some of the responses. Charlie over on Twitter says,

(46:34):
by the entitlement is why we are where we are today.
We're going to end up with losing records. We have
no culture, great players, no culture. I guess this is
no great players, no toughness, effort, development in game adjustments.
The program is almost at the bottom. Dave says, one
of the best to do it for quite some time.

(46:55):
But this is a stubborn, arrogant and dismissive take. I
suppose he's but man hard to listen to when he
doesn't acknowledge the issues. The bulldog report must be a
Georgia site, says. At some point Clempson is either going
to get tired of only winning ten games in the
ACC or they're going to want to raise their standards

(47:17):
one or the other. Ball don't lie, says A model
t for was built the last two How many of
those are around now? So take upon, take upon, Take
from Dabo Sweeney and his time with the media up

(47:38):
in Tigertown earlier today. And again, speaking of individuals and
their time with the media up in Tigertown earlier today,
we also have to talk about Clemson defensive coordinator, and
there's been some thoughts about Tom Allen about whether or
not Tom Allen should go into the booth and call

(48:03):
plays well. Tom Allen was one of the guys that
met with the media earlier today as well, along with
several players. Nonetheless, here's some audio from Tom Allen's time
with the media and some of the things that he

(48:24):
had to say about this team, including the first question,
I guess I should I guess I should give you that,
which was how he would grade this clips of defense
so far.

Speaker 5 (48:37):
Yeah, you know, I think obviously what's fresh in your
mind is what you just played. And so just disappointed,
not discouraged, but disappointed in the inability to get off
the field and give her off as the ball backs
and go win the game.

Speaker 1 (48:50):
So that's just what we're supposed to do.

Speaker 5 (48:52):
And so that was that's the fresh response to that.
Didn't feel like that just execution to me. In all
three games, at times it's been good, but it's not
been consistent enough for me and for obviously what we
have to be able to have to be the defense
that we want to be and I believe we can be.
So I think that that's the focus for our guys

(49:15):
right now is being able to disrupt up front, tackle
extremely well, and create takeaways. And we didn't get any
takeaways in the last game, and that was a big
issue that we needed. We needed that for our team,
and I think that's a real focal point for me
right now. We got two in the first game, we
got three in the second game, should have had four

(49:35):
in the second game, and our goal is three a game,
which I know is a high goal, but that's what
our goal is. And we just need we receive one
and that one to get to be able to get
off the field in those key situations to get those
key stops, you know, So when we take about each game,
you know, to me, it was about I thought we
started as strong. You know. I do feel like in
game one, even in Game two, I want to see

(49:57):
us play more guys. I just think that's it's healthy
for everybody. I think it showed up a little bit
in that third game, in those last couple of drives.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
So I just think that's a.

Speaker 5 (50:06):
Big part of being able to have the depth that
you want to finish games and then finish the season.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
The way you want.

Speaker 5 (50:12):
I've talked about that with our guys from day one,
and and part of that is us developing enough depth
to be able to have guys that are ready to
play in multiple positions to be able to allow that
to be the case. And I'm a big believer in that.
You know, when you play a team like this, coming
up to plays with a lot of tempo, gets a
lot of snaps.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
Your averages. You know, they've had over.

Speaker 5 (50:31):
Ninety snaps in the game and in the eighties for average,
and so that to me is a big deal. And
I think that kind of summarizes them things for me,
because I want to be able to be at our
best in the fourth quarter, and you know, we had
a lead in this last game, and that's to me,
that's on us, that's on the defense to finish the
game and period a point blank.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
Talked to our guys about that.

Speaker 5 (50:51):
We know that talked about and even during that situation
during the game, and once we got the lead, then
that's our responsibility to make sure that they don't score
we win the game, you know. And so that's the
mindset I want us to have. I want to take
pride and as a defense, I want us to attack that.
So we've been okay at times, not good enough in
my opinion, and did not play to the standard on Saturday.

(51:12):
And so when you don't get the results that you're
looking for, you know, you continue to look at things
and evaluate and just keep find ways that make changes
that are going to allow you to have a better
success next time.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
But I think our guys have played hard and.

Speaker 5 (51:26):
We've we've tackled well most of the time, but we
did miss some key tackles in this last game. And
so you can say that for each of the few
in the first two games as well. It's not been
a massive issue, but it's been to our standard to me,
it needs to be better and that's that's all, especially
in the perimeter, you know, on the perimeter, and be
more physical that pimeter.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
To me, it just is an edge you got to
have and play with.

Speaker 5 (51:47):
So to overall, summary has done some good things, but
obviously not good enough.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
And we see that.

Speaker 5 (51:54):
We accept that as as coaches, and it's our responsibility
get our guys in position to make this place and
then when they do, they got it.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
They got to make them.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
That's Tom Allen talking about this Clemson Tiger defense and again, yeah,
I mean not physical enough certainly. He was also asked
about how he would kind of grade the linebackers and
how he feels those guys have performed.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
Yeah, you know, they've done a really good job.

Speaker 3 (52:14):
You know.

Speaker 5 (52:15):
I think that both times they've each kind of you know,
shared and having maybe a better game than the other,
but none of them. But they've all played very solid football.
And I want them to be elite, and I think
they have the potential to be elite. I once again,
I want to see his play some more guys there
as well. I think that's healthy for.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
For a lot of reasons, a lot of things.

Speaker 5 (52:32):
But I think those two guys that played at a
high level, and they're taking a lot of ownership of
running the defense, and that continues to grow each and
every game just because of the experience and understanding the
system better and then being able to articulate that to
their teammates on the field and make checks and adjustments
and just play with that that total confidence to be
able to no matter what the offense does, that those

(52:52):
guys can get us in the right call, gets in
the right fit, get us in the right situation if
we have a checker or not so very very unpleased
with with Sammy and Wade's gotta keep going and get
get better.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
Tom Allen was also asking if you feels the defensive
rotations have gotten the results. Clemsones wanted, well, I will.

Speaker 5 (53:06):
Say this and to the point, we want to be
able to play. I've said it already. We want to
be able to play a lot of guys. You know,
so when you sub them, and sometimes it happens to
be when they if they late.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
Sub, you know, we will sub.

Speaker 5 (53:16):
You know, we'll count that to be able to strategically
utilize that that component. But I think there's also just
kind of a getting in a rhythm of how you
want to get guys in and out, and so to me,
I want guys obviously to play. You know, we have
a certain you know, parameters for each position. We say
this is an ideal number of plays a guy can play.
You know, this body weight and this type of guy
and house we can play that level for sixty minutes.

(53:38):
So obviously the challenge is just because you never know
what's going to unfold in the in the second half.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
But you do need to be able to play, especially
in the first half.

Speaker 5 (53:46):
Play lots of guys and be able to get a
good amount of guys reps obviously helps their their talent
and their technique be developed, and also allows our guys
to get some some good celibrates. But yeah, we ad
a staff got to do a really good job and
just continue to get better. That are at making sure
we got the right guys in there at the right time.
But I do am committed to playing a lot of
guys because of what I've said. You know, you play,

(54:08):
you know the style of office that we have. You know,
whatever see women were in the scoring points you want
to be you know, they.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
May be explosive plays.

Speaker 5 (54:15):
You may be out there in a very efficient way,
you know, and so obviously and sometimes they don't and
so you're still out there efficiently.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
So that's part of being built that way.

Speaker 5 (54:23):
And I think that's that's part of playing today's game,
in the way that it's played and the temple that
you play with and the style of play that you have.
And so obviously, you know, we've we've been out there
too much. Sometimes it's just because we haven't gotten enough stops.
So that's on us, you know. So but at the
same time, that is the thought process of going into
and be able to say, Okay, we've got to make
sure that we have our best players on the field

(54:43):
at critical times and obviously at the.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
End of the game.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Tom Allen was also asked about the lapses and communications
that may have taken place and whether or not those
led to some explosive plays in the ball game.

Speaker 3 (54:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (54:56):
I think the biggest thing has been, you know, the
young guys, you know, being in the position for the
first time. And we got, you know, a couple of
safeties that played a ton of reps. This is their
first time starting obviously at Tigers, that's a first time
starting in those situations. Those those opportunities come up, and
obviously the players playing in a new system early in
the season, I think that could be a variable as well.
So but but I just think that, you know, we

(55:16):
don't have a complex amount of checks in our system,
but we do have some and we do have some
things that have happened at critical times where you've got
to be able to execute it. And so I think
part of it is kind of a combination of inexperienced
guys and some some you know, because the safeties in
our defense are a big part of what we do,
you know, and so they do communicate a lot and
have to make adjustments, and you know, not having Kalil,
you know, predominantly the first three games has been a

(55:38):
challenge in some ways, and so it's forced other guys
that have to maybe be in more of a verbal
role than they or maybe might be prepared for in
their development. So but we got as coaches, do a
great job with that and help with that. So but
I think it's a combination of both of those and
and and just being able to be confident.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
In our you know, in our checks and adjustments, because.

Speaker 5 (55:56):
Obviously it's it's those critical times when you've got to
be at your best when you got to be able
to you know, whether the crowd and owards or whether
it's the ability for us to you know, understand information
and the motion and what they give us and and
be able to make those adjustments with confidence.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
So I just expect that to get better and better.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Tom Allen was asked about subbing and how they kind
of manage young guys and old guys in experienced situations
or important situations.

Speaker 5 (56:19):
Yeah, it's not really And that's that's where you don't
really you don't really want to sub it to where
it's first group, second group.

Speaker 1 (56:25):
It should be intermingled enough to be able to have that.

Speaker 5 (56:27):
It's that balance I think is so we got to
make sure that staff that that that's it's it's equaled
out to where you have enough experienced guys out there.
There's there's doubt the style of play that we were
we were involved in allowing certain dlignement to be more
of a positive for that style of offense we're playing against.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
You know, so, but I think you want to do
a good job. They were getting some we're.

Speaker 5 (56:46):
Getting a lot of snaps from some key guys, and
you know, I thought, you know, Peter played too many snaps,
you know, and so uh for guys three hundred plus
pound guy and so to me, that's just part of
us being able to So when do you make those
you know, subs, That's that's the critical work to all
that and obviously get in a long drive and want
to see us be able to you know, even in
that situation, you got to seve your backers out. You know,

(57:07):
in a ten, twelve, fourteen play drive, you know, a
guy can't stay out there for fourteenth straights in my opinion.

Speaker 1 (57:12):
So that's something we.

Speaker 5 (57:13):
Got to get better at as the coaching staff, and
that's my responsibility and I think that we will for sure.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
But at the same time, I want to play these guys.

Speaker 5 (57:20):
Man, these guys work hard, they deserve to play, and
now they got to perform.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
If they don't do their job when they're.

Speaker 5 (57:24):
Out there, then then obviously you got to you know,
hold them accountable to that. But at the same time,
I want to see us play. I have good rotation
of guys, play a lot of players, and let them
have the opportunity to compete and play and help us,
help us win.

Speaker 2 (57:37):
Allen was also asked to kind of give some insight
into why he thinks this clips of Tiger defense has
been a little soft on the perimeter.

Speaker 5 (57:43):
Yeah, I think, for instance, I think take a couple
in my head right now, I can just visualize from
the game to where it was the lack of reaction
to either the call or the formation, you know. To me,
it's just you got to anticipate certain things. We actually
checked once. So's a certain call that really you know,
worked on and that was what we wanted to be
in and and we didn't pull the trigger, you know
from a certain one of our guys on the edge

(58:05):
and the guy playing a tiger position.

Speaker 1 (58:06):
So it's you got to you got to.

Speaker 5 (58:08):
Create confidence, is create through repetition, through the ability to
master the system, and just to be able to just
have that confidence to post trigger and go when you
see what you wi your key gives you. And so
I think that's you know, it's a combination of just
you know, more playing time. We've got some guys there
and they're just got to get better with their technique.
And when you get better and when you're congregating, you

(58:28):
play more physical.

Speaker 1 (58:29):
So I don't think that they're you know, soft players.

Speaker 5 (58:33):
I think that the soft play is created some times
with hesitancy and lack of just enough good reps of
playing with confident, great physical technique, and so I expect
us to play better in that area without question.

Speaker 1 (58:46):
But I think to me, a lot of.

Speaker 5 (58:47):
Those we lost some leverage is because of being out
a position and it's hard to be able to asset
your edge and a certain call if you're not really.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
Supposed to be physically well.

Speaker 5 (58:55):
That goes back to anticipation of the formation, maybe emotion
the movement, setting it up, trying disguise it at times,
and to me, that's that's all part of it. So
I think it's not a simple one thing creates it.
But I do think that our guys will continue to
play with more physicality and but we got to improve
on the edge, There's no doubt about it. And you
know it's the film is obvious at times on some

(59:16):
of those. So but to me, it's just about of
us continue just like we just last night. You come
back and mean you get to work and you focus
on what you do well, and you keep making adjustments
and then sometimes.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
You make some personnel adjustments. You just try to find.

Speaker 5 (59:28):
Ways to continue to allow guys to be able to
be put in position and when they get in those spots,
in those critical situations, they got to make place.

Speaker 2 (59:35):
Tom Allen was also asked about a couple of guys
that our experienced, like Shut Lewis and Kylon Griffin and
what's kind of kept them from getting the snaps that
people might expect at this point in their career.

Speaker 5 (59:45):
Yeah, I think you know, Sheldon had an injury, you know,
the in the off season and missed a lot, and
then later in spring actually both of them, did you know,
they missed the last part of spring and then and
then into the summer and then came back in training camp.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
And so to me, still being brought back from.

Speaker 5 (01:00:02):
Those you know, setbacks and to be able to get
the reps and the confidence once again to play in
a new system. So and I want to see what
we need both of those guys to continue to grow
and develop because they have played in the past and
they do give you a chance to give you some really.

Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
Really high quality depth.

Speaker 5 (01:00:16):
There's what I would expect from them when they're in
there and they're just say whenever you play, whether it
says a first, second, third, whatever happens to me when
you're on that field, and you're a starter, start mentality,
starter execution, and those.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Are two guys that we need to step up.

Speaker 5 (01:00:28):
But I think the injury set them back out question,
and you know they both had you know, post spring
surgeries and just be able to go through those things.
So I just think that that's kind of part of it.
But at the same time, by week three, week four,
I want those guys to be able to be in
there whatever part of the game happens to be that
they're helping us win the game at that point.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
Final thingy Tom Allen was asked about one of the
coolest features I've seen during the college football season, airing
the conversations between the replay officials. It's pretty cool to watch.
Here's his thoughts on it.

Speaker 5 (01:00:58):
You know, I didn't really know any of that, don't
watch the games in that mode, but uh yeah, whatever
you can do to help the fans feel more engaged,
I think that's a positive thing for the game. I
guess depends on how you want to look at it
from how the how the call went. That may affect
your opinion about what transpires. So can they actually hear

(01:01:19):
the conversation of the officials, got you so but yeah,
that'd be interesting to hear in some situations for sure.
But uh yeah, I mean I think it's a you know,
we we we coach a great game, we play a
great game. I think the more that you have an
opportunity for people to get interaction with and kind of
get an inside look at how things are talked through
also create some accountability, you know, for the people involved.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
I think that's a good thing, you know, for all
of us.

Speaker 5 (01:01:41):
And and at the end of the day, I mean,
everybody just wants the call to be called correctly, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
And I know it's obviously there's a.

Speaker 5 (01:01:47):
There's a huge perspective difference based on which you're what
glasses you are seeing it from. But at the same time,
you we want to get called correctly, and so where
we can do to create that that helps that, I'm
all for it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
There you go, as Tom in Clemson defensive coordinator. We'll
come back with a little bit more of his comments
as he met with the media earlier today, and he does. Man,
he reminds me so much of Brent Midible's just the voice,
the raspiness. He might have a little more. Uh Robert F.
Kennedy junior in kind of the way he sounds. But yeah,
I really like the fire and the passion. And he

(01:02:20):
spoke for about twenty five minutes, So we'll give you
a little bit more of that when we get back.
Keep it a lot right here on Fox Sports Radio
fourteen hundred Clemson Sports salt Low and Swan on a Tuesday,
don't forget about our friends at Alumni Hall on the
corner of campus on College Avenue in downtown Clemson for
all your officially licensed Clemson merchandise, including those incredible Nike

(01:02:40):
Dry Fit polos that I love so much. Like I said,
I love them in Clemson colors, I love me in
River Bluff colors. I love them and you will too.
Go check them out next time you're up in Tigertown.
I did find out, Hey, I might be there this weekend.
I didn't realize I got to put in for credentials.
I was supposed to go out of town for or
soccer this weekend, but it looks like that game's gotten canceled,

(01:03:03):
so I may go up to Clemson for the game.
We'll see. Haven't decided yet. Kind of a quick turnaround
for me. Speaking of quick turnarounds, in and out of
the store. They're at Alumni Hall, don't forget to ask
them about their Alumni Hall Rewards program and Clemson students
faculty military to get ten percent off when shopping in store.
Shop where I shop in Alumni Hall on the corner

(01:03:25):
of campus on College Avenue in downtown Clemson, or online
at Alumni Hall dot com. All right, we heard some
from Tom Allen, Clempson defensive coordinator just a little bit ago,
and he was asked about Dabbosweeney making some comments that
he felt that Clemson need to get more out of TJ.
Parker and other veteran players. Heck, who wrote that's who

(01:03:49):
let the dogs out? Yeah? I feel like who wrote
the article? Me? Me, me me. I can't can't believe
I just did that. Anyway, Clempson defensive line, Where are
the game Wreckers? I didn't come up with game wreckers?
That was a texture a couple of weeks ago. I
think maybe last week. Where are the clips of game Wreckers?

(01:04:09):
On defense? Fair question? Here's Tom Allen, Climpson defensive coordinator,
being asked about TJ. Parker and other veteran players.

Speaker 5 (01:04:20):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's that's fair. You know
and to me, and there's one thing I will say too,
you know, when you have a talented group of guys,
especially up front, and we experienced this a year ago,
was that people are gonna have a certain game plan
for you.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
You know, the goal is usually going to be to.

Speaker 5 (01:04:31):
Get the ball out quick, you know, to so they
can't get to the quarterback, you know, and you've seen
a lot of examples that have a lot of screens. We
went through and just went through all of our third
down calls and there's a there's a lot of screens,
you know, and there's just a strong and very intentional
desire to get rid of the ball fast and the
quick games between those two components and then running the
ball sometimes on third downs, you know, which is you

(01:04:53):
know that that's affects your ability for those guys to
make those you know, game change and type plays sacks
and TFLs and so. But I do think there's another
level for several of our guys to go to. And
so to me, it's just about of Hey, every week,
you just continue to to you know, do things the
correct way. You continue to evaluate yourself, you hold yourself
to the standard of accountability, how you prepare how you play,

(01:05:15):
but sometimes plays coming away sometimes they don't based on
how they're how they're you know, schematically attacking us and
different things. So but but yeah, I love to see
all those guys up front just take the game over,
you know, critical times and you know we get late
in the game and to be able to the TFLs
and the sacks and just end drives and Creig takeaways
and allow you to be positioned to finish like you
want to.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
And so I'd say the.

Speaker 5 (01:05:34):
Same for the linebackers and safety's in the corners and
the Tigers guys that we feel like that are our best,
your best players.

Speaker 1 (01:05:40):
You want them to play their best football, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:05:42):
And this this stage of the season where I gett
ready for Game four, and so that's why I exparted
to the I had to do.

Speaker 1 (01:05:47):
You know, we're now and uh to conference play completely.

Speaker 5 (01:05:50):
Here and so the bottom lines, I want those guys
up front to be able to be playing their best
football and I expect them to. And so when we
got the other thing we can't as coach and putting
those positions, and when we do, they got to respond.

Speaker 2 (01:06:00):
Tom Allen was also asked kind of where he was
on the developing depth aspect of the team.

Speaker 5 (01:06:06):
Yeah, I think it needs to be advanced, you know,
I think that line. Want to see at linebacker, you know,
I want to see more guys playing there. I want
to see it at safety, you know, I want to
see it at a corner.

Speaker 3 (01:06:15):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:06:15):
We're still working through, you know, the tiger position, trying
to figure out, you know, the best combination there. But
to me, I think that we have played a lot
of guys on the D line, which is a good thing,
and that's that serves multiple purposes, but I can't say
that for the case at safety.

Speaker 1 (01:06:30):
And linebacker, and I want to see more of that
and feel like, I know we need that.

Speaker 5 (01:06:34):
You know, that's going to help us, you know, like
I said, and to finish games and to finish the season,
and just obviously for overall development of players, you know,
allow them to be able to grow and see that progress.
And I know everybody wants to play. We got a
lot of guys that get a lot of practice ships
and don't always get the same number of game reps
that they prepare for, and sometimes that that is just
the nature of the flow of the game. And sometimes
it's the nature of how we're playing on defense and

(01:06:56):
how we're playing as a team.

Speaker 6 (01:06:57):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:06:57):
So, but but anytime you can play more guys, it's
going to.

Speaker 1 (01:06:59):
Help you without question.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
Tom Allen was also asked about gett Khalil Barnes back
when they thought they would and how big of an
impact he has for that defense, you know, whatever that.

Speaker 5 (01:07:08):
Is as soon as possible and then we'll find out
more this week. But special player, I mean he's just
really fits. You know, he's a safety for us. Obviously,
he could play the tiger position, can play safety position,
I just can play all three.

Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
You know, came here as a corner and has that
kind of skill set.

Speaker 5 (01:07:22):
But to me, really the safety tiger position is really
where he's has a chance to help us the most.
And to me, it's about, you know, when he is
healthy to come back, to be able to get him
and works back in there and be able to impact
his team because you know, he really makes a difference
from a communication perspective because of his experience and.

Speaker 1 (01:07:39):
He's really done a great job. I will say he
knows the defense.

Speaker 5 (01:07:42):
I sit in all the meetings with him and he's
just he's communicating a high level and so he understand
he studies filming when he's been out, he's always knows
every opponent, even though he's not expected to play the
last couple of weeks. And so just just really really
excited about getting him back when when that time comes.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
All right, that's Tom Allen. We'll have I have some
more audio and stories from his time with the media
on our website as well, probably push some of that
content out the social as well. I would love to
play for you the fran Brown audio. It was shocking,
to say the least. I don't know if you saw it.

(01:08:18):
I didn't post it on my I don't think I
posted on Twitter. I posted on our Facebook page. That's
the one I'm really working on growing. I'm trying to
get to twenty five thousand followers on Facebook. We're at sixteen,
but we started this. We started this ride towards the
drive to twenty five. We started it about two weeks

(01:08:41):
ago and we're up about two thousand subs, so our
followers and so want to get that going even more
by getting it to twenty five thousand, doubling essentially the
amount of people they follow us. So please, if you're
on Facebook, look for it's Clemses sports don't often imitated,
never duplicated. As they say, look for the logo, the

(01:09:02):
distinctive Clemson Tiger face. Look for it, find us, follow us,
and help us grow because I'm telling you it's a
lot of fun what we're doing and the content we're
putting out, driving more and more people to the show,

(01:09:24):
driving more and more people to the brand. And we'd
love to have you be a part of our Facebook
community as well. It really is quite incredible how quickly
things have skyrocketed over there. But I couldn't do it
without you. And you know, it's all the people commenting
and sharing our work. But the more people we can
get in the fold, man, the more special that community

(01:09:46):
can become. So again, find us on your favorite app, TikTok.
We're there as well. But go find that clip of
Fran Brown Dude. It will crack you up. He drops
the F bomb. Unbelievable. All right, stay with us, Lawton
Swan back with you, Clympson's Sports talking again. Don't forget
about our friends at Alumni Hall on the corner of
Campus on College Avenue in downtown Clempson. It's Alumni Hall

(01:10:10):
for all your officially licensed Clemson merchandise, hats, T shirts, Tailgate,
Geared Moore. Go check them out today if you're downtown
or online at Alumni Hall dot com. It's Alumni Hall
where Tiger fans shop. All right, So I did. I
reached out Mike. You've gave me some names over at
Gamecock Central, and I did my due diligence, and I

(01:10:34):
reached out one of the guys, Wes Mitchell, recently. I
guess his wife had a baby, so he's not able
to do it. But I'm I'm not. I'm not done yet.
I'm still I'm still hunting, trying to find our new
game Cock insider. Trust me, gamecognation. You don't want me

(01:10:55):
to be the game insider.

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
I listened to the sports talk radio all over the nation,
but the way you come across makes me sick.

Speaker 7 (01:11:07):
You're gonna find yourself not on the radio.

Speaker 2 (01:11:09):
That's the way one game Cock very early in my career,
felt about me, sad, sad, but others felt differently. As
I always tell you, I'm.

Speaker 7 (01:11:19):
A Carolina fan. I would listen to your show, and
I want to compliment you on your even handedness between
Clemson and Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:11:27):
And there you go. So it goes both ways. Anyhow,
I know what you want to know game cognation, like
what's the latest on the Norse Sellers obviously minus Sellers.
Let's just say this. Let's just say this all right,
because we've thrown a lot of mud at Clemson. Maybe

(01:11:48):
not all of it's from me. I've been run, but
a lot of mud at Clemson. And some might even
say I've been too much of a sunshine pumper because
I talked yesterday about Adam Randa and how I felt like,
if you're gonna look at something to commit to and say, yep,
that's the standard, that's the guy. I think it's a
great story, regardless of one and two. Regardless of one

(01:12:10):
and two, I think Adam Randall is a phenomenal story
in the sport that we love called college football. But
Leonora Sellers exited last weekend's game against Vanderbilt, and in
part that seemed like the majority of South Carolina's team
and game and all that went into the cam with

(01:12:32):
him thirty one seven. The game Cocks blasted, absolutely blasted
by Vandy. And now they go out to a place
in Missouri that has been a house of horrors. Shane
Beemer apparently expressed some optimism on Sunday night the Sellers
will be able to play this weekend. However, ask again

(01:12:58):
today about Lenora Sellers, Beamer deferred until Wednesday, when the
official SEC availability report will be released, Beamer saying, quote, Nope,
we have an injury report for SEC games that we
release on Wednesday nights. Now that for South Carolina fans

(01:13:22):
has to cause some animosity, nervousness, whatever. I mean. Clemson
doesn't love the fact that when you're asking Tom Allen
and Tabosweeney about Khalil Barnes and Antonio Williams, you get, yeah,
you gotta wait for the release. And you know, prior
to that, way we get in Clemson, I could tell
you game Cox here it was you ready buckle up

(01:13:43):
for this day to day. I mean we lived with
day to day in Tigertown, day to day. I say
all that to simply note that these coaches, now that
they have to put this information out, they're not just
going to hand it to you necessarily, although it would

(01:14:05):
be nice if you're talking about the starting quarterback. But
Biember wants to keep Biemer wants to keep Missouri preparing
for two different guys. They want to make Missouri think
that Luke Dody, maybe air Nolan, maybe Lenor Sellers are
playing now. Before he went out in the game, here

(01:14:31):
are the numbers for Lenor Sellers. He was six of
seven for ninety four yards with an interception before having
to leave. Now, I have said that I don't think
Carolina would have kept up even if he was in
the game. I mean, Luke Dody wasn't great eighteen of
twenty seven for one hundred and forty eight yards and
a pick. But South Carolina didn't get beat seventeen to

(01:14:52):
seven or even twenty to ten. I mean it was
thirty one to seven, and Saturday after the game, Biember
didn't come. I'm at on who would start during the
upcoming week against Missouri if Sellers didn't go, meaning that
Missouri does have to prepare for multiple quarterbacks. But today
he did say that Dody will remain the backup, which

(01:15:15):
I was talking to some game cap buddies of mine
and the shocking thought that air Noland is not better
than Luke Dody, bizarre like that would concern me. Counter
Woods is another, you know, freshman backup, but that air
Nolan all the all the things that you know, all

(01:15:36):
the positive news about Airon Nolan coming out of high
school when he went to Ohio State, and you're telling
me that that guy is still not better than Luke
Dody at quarterback. I mean, I don't know about y'all,
but that doesn't give you the warm fuzzies about the
red shirt freshman from Langston Hughes High School over in Fairborne, Georgia.

(01:15:59):
It was a high four star prospect, nearly five star quarterback.
I mean, I don't know about you, big trap. The
giant Killer walked in the door and played. Deshaun Watson
year one walked in the door, should have been playing
and did play until he got hurt. Right, let's don't

(01:16:22):
rehash those. If you want to rehash all those seasons,
tune in to our one of the show where Dabo
Sweeney rehashes his entire career at Clemson. Right, but man
sellers dealing with the concussion being monitored, all of the

(01:16:44):
things that come into that, and we're in an era
now where if he's still being bothered by it tomorrow
and then the Thursday, dude's not playing. He's just not playing.
Like with everything we know about concussions and CTE and
traumatic brain injury and everything that takes place with these situations. Dude,
if you're not one hundred percent healthy and you're running

(01:17:07):
out there, you are putting your future in jeopardy. Not
your college football future, not your pro football future, your
future future. So we'll see. I know game cap fans
do not feel good about going out to Missouri and
playing without sellers. I haven't looked at the spread. I'll
tell you what. We got a break coming up. When

(01:17:28):
we come back, we'll take a look at how that game,
what the spread looks like right now on South Carolina
and Missouri. Stay with us.

Speaker 7 (01:17:37):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture. Don't forget history.
Lucky for us at Clemson, the answer to the questions
what have you done for me lately?

Speaker 6 (01:17:55):
And what have you done? Always are the same. We
win sometime sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:18:50):
Final segment on a Tuesday, Man, hard to believe tomorrow's
hum day. Getting closer to the weekend, Clemson Syracuse up
a Tiger town again. I mentioned it earlier. The Tigers,
even with all the struggles and all the everything Dabos
when he talked about today CLYMPS is still favored by
seventeen and a half going into that game against the

(01:19:13):
Orange in Death Valley. But how about South Carolina? I
mean both of these teams, I do, I will say this,
and I don't think Dabos when he was necessarily taking
a shot at South Carolina when he talked about all
the schools that you know, haven't done crap or whatever.
I can't remember his exact phrasing, but he was kind

(01:19:35):
of talking about how highly criticized Clempson is. And again,
when you say best is the standard you're not living
up to that, you're gonna get criticism. You were gonna
get criticism even if you didn't say it, but once
you say it, yeah, you're getting criticism. Duh, Right, I mean,
shocker Swanye. But you know, South Carolina, the game Cocks

(01:19:57):
were in the mix for the college football playoff conversations
as well, and still very it may very well be right.
You go out to Missouri and win this weekend, you
get the norse sellers back. Who knows like that lost
to Andy could just be a blip on the radar,
But I thought Carolina had the ability to go five
and zero to five and seven. I think that's how

(01:20:21):
difficult their final seven games are. Now they might look
at Clemson now and say, nah, not bad. But the
line on this game in South Carolina struggled offensively, I
thought against Virginia Tech. They struggled in the first half
against SC State, And if it weren't for a couple
of punt returns, which it's all three phases of the

(01:20:44):
game count, I don't deny that fact. But South Carolina
is an eleven and a half point underdog, eleven and
a half point underdog on the road at Missouri.

Speaker 1 (01:21:03):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:21:04):
I don't know how much that swings if Lenora Sellers
is announced that he's playing, but that's a big number
for South Carolina. To give you some perspective, Ole miss

(01:21:25):
is only an eleven and a half point favorite over Tulane, Okay,
So that kind of tells you that there's not a
ton of belief in South Carolina this weekend out in Missouri.

(01:21:47):
When that's the kind of line that you've got on it,
looking to see if there's a similar one to kind
of give you some perspective on that number or by
comparison to some other games. I don't really see anything
that would i'd categorize as kind of a similar situation this.

(01:22:12):
This looks like a pretty disappointing weekend quite frankly. Miami, okay,
here's one maybe is only a seven and a half
point favorite over Florida. So yeah, I mean South Carolina
at this point, either Lenora Sellers has to play and
has to play great, but they're not coming out of

(01:22:35):
Missouri with a win, and the game Cocks at that
point would fall to one in excuse me, two and
two on the season. Who we with Kentucky coming up,
which would be man Carolina could be looking at a bad

(01:22:59):
year if they don't win this weekend, and the worm
turned pretty quickly for the game Cocks. And look, Clemson
could be looking at a bad season too. I'm not
saying that, but it has been surprising. The SC State
game was sort of the moment where I think some

(01:23:22):
South Carolina f like I had talked about Virginia Tech
and how I thought Virginia Tech was a pretty good team,
and I thought Brent Pryor was a good coach and
he's fired and he's out, and they got their doors
blown off by Old Dominion Old Dominion was up thirty
one nothing in South Carolina kind of struggled with Virginia Tech,
and South Carolina definitely struggled with se State. I mean,

(01:23:45):
the Bulldogs led that game three nothing with five minutes
and two seconds left in the first half, and South
Carolina gets a couple of punt returns from Vacari Swain
to swing the momentum before halftime. Like, I don't think
Gamecock fans feel great right now about this team because

(01:24:08):
offensively they just haven't seemed right. And if they don't
have Lenora Sellers this weekend against Missouri, there's no way
they win that game. I don't think. I mean, like,
maybe I'll come in here on maybe I come in
here on Monday and we're.

Speaker 3 (01:24:25):
Like, well, look at what we have here.

Speaker 2 (01:24:28):
The game Coy's got a dub, but I don't think so.
Without Leonora Sellers, there's no way. Now. I don't know
if Missouri would cover the eleven and a half, but
there's no way South Carolina beats Missouri without Sellers, right,
Text me if I'm wrong. Eight oh three, four to
five O zero zero eighty six. All right, We'll be
back tomorrow at four o'clock until then, as always, you'll
take care now and go Tigers.