Tigers get boost of confidence

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has enjoyed the shot of confidence the Tigers picked up by beating Wake Forest 38-3 on Saturday.

“Our team will be confident and hopefully really be able to carry over the attention to detail and focus,” he said during Sunday’s teleconference.

“It’s a lot more fun when you win. You’ll have their attention right of the gate.”

After breaking down the film on Sunday, Swinney said it was the best display of tackling the defense has put on this year. Big plays were limited and the pursuit was “relentless.”

“We had nine tackles for loss, five sacks, nine quarterback pressures, two picks and we were really good on third downs,” he said. “All in all, it was a good job.”

Swinney did mention a few areas that have room for improvement, “We still had a few missed assignments with some of our pass pressures and didn’t do a good job with some of our techniques at the point of attack. We could improve some of our technique in the secondary.”

He said the biggest key to the success on offense was execution. Able to stay on schedule with solid pickups on first down, Swinney liked that the play calling was able to keep Wake Forest guessing all afternoon.

Only one play call on Saturday was a “game plan play." Everything else was about the same as it has been all year.

“Everything we did was just doing it better. That’s the bottom line,” Swinney said.

He thought Kyle Parker played well, but sees a few things that could improve.

“There were a couple of throws that he missed but he made some big, big plays for us,” Swinney said. “I thought he had a great demeanor about the whole game and brought a lot of energy to our team.”

Swinney said the receivers were a bright spot. He believes the group is really starting to gain some confidence.

Despite giving up four sacks, Swinney believes the offensive line played its best game of the year. Dalton Freeman picked up positive reviews for his first career start at center. Mason Cloy did too for his play, which included 11 snaps at left and right guard. Chris Hairston graded at 82 percent. Landon Walker played his best game, according to Swinney. David Smith was graded at 81 percent.

“We played fast and executed really well…its good film to teach off of as we move forward,” Swinney said. “It gives us something we can build on and show them and say, ‘If we can do it the right way, we have a chance to be successful.’”

With the third Top 15 opponent Clemson has faced this year coming up on Saturday, Swinney expects another tough matchup against Miami at 3:30 this Saturday.

“Every win is critical. Miami is a program that’s playing very well. It’s a tough place to go and play,” he said. “They haven’t lost many games down there. It’s an opportunity for us to go play on national TV and hopefully just keep getting better as a football team.”