Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney expressed dissatisfaction with his team’s performance during their final preseason intersquad scrimmage on Thursday. Swinney described it as the worst day the team has had, noting a lack of focus and numerous mistakes.
The scrimmage aimed to evaluate reserve players for potential movement from the practice roster to the travel roster for the upcoming September 5 game against LSU. However, Swinney was not impressed, stating that many players received more opportunities than expected and were exposed.
Swinney pointed to mental errors, including penalties and late starts, as contributing factors. He acknowledged that the start of classes on Wednesday and the intense heat of fall camp may have made the process more rigorous than in previous years. Despite these challenges, Swinney emphasized that the team was running familiar plays, indicating a lapse in concentration rather than new material.
Defensively, Swinney observed too many correctable mistakes that could prove costly in a game. He specifically mentioned numerous penalties, particularly in the red zone, and what he called dumb errors, such as a defensive player running after picking off a ball in a two-minute drill when the game was already over.
With less than two weeks until the Tigers travel to Baton Rouge, these issues will need to be addressed. Swinney recognized the distractions that typically arise at the end of August and the increasing anticipation for the season opener, which will be attended by College GameDay. He stressed that the team must overcome these external factors to have a chance against the No. 11 ranked opponent.
Swinney concluded that the performance on both offense and defense was not good enough, attributing it to the difficult period known as the dog days of camp.
