Clemson left Berkeley with a 24-10 win over Cal, and Dabo Swinney sounded like a coach who knew exactly how strange the night had been.
The Tigers kicked off at 10:30 p.m. Eastern and didn’t finish until 1:55 a.m., but Clemson still moved to 2-0 in the ACC. Swinney summed up the hour by saying, “Nothing good happens after midnight ... except when you come out here and win a football game,” in a postgame interview with ESPN around 2 a.m.
Once he got to his news conference, Swinney kept the same theme going: Clemson had to grind, and Clemson handled the grind.
“Well, I’m not sure anybody’s watching this, but we’ll we’ll do it anyway. ... I’m proud of our guys. ... That’s two weeks in a row we’ve had to battle our tails off,” he said.
He also made a point to praise the way the Tigers dealt with the trip itself.
“First of all, I’m proud of our team and how they handled the (West Coast) trip. I’m proud of our staff, especially our operations staff.
There was a lot of moving parts to this trip. .... Guys were ready to play.”
The run game was one of the night’s biggest stories, and Swinney made it clear that was no accident.
“To be able to run the football the way we ran the ball was awesome. I mean, we were a tough football team.
That was probably my biggest objective coming into the season. We needed to be a tougher team, especially running the football.”
Clemson’s defense also delivered a clean answer when it came to points allowed. Cal’s only touchdown came on a fumble recovery, and Swinney leaned on that distinction.
“Defensively, it’s about points. I mean, three points, that’s all we gave up (Cal’s only touchdown was on a fumble recovery). ... That’s the first time since 2022 we haven’t given up an offensive touchdown.”
Special teams gave Clemson another jolt. Bryant Wesco Jr. took a punt back for a touchdown, and Swinney called it exactly the kind of play that can flip a game.
“The punt return was just awesome. (Bryant Wesco Jr.) hit it. The guys really executed it well.”
Later, he added, “Big plays create a ton of energy. ... That’s our first punt return for a touchdown since ‘18. ...
And ‘18 was a pretty good year, too (Clemson won its most recent national title that year). So maybe that’s a good sign for us.”
He also singled out Rich Bisaccia and the special teams unit.
“Huge shout-out to (Rich Bisaccia) and the job he’s done with our special teams. ... That makes a huge difference in a ball game. ... Special teams has really been very, very consistent for us every game.”
On the ground, Gideon Davidson kept building momentum with what Swinney described as a breakthrough performance.
“He’s had a couple great weeks, for sure. It’s amazing what confidence will do. ...
You could just see he was close. He goes from getting his first touchdown (vs.
UNC) to now he’s got two tonight and breaks another long run. ... We’re really proud of him.”
Swinney also had injury updates after the win. David Eziomume’s status sounded particularly concerning.
“It didn’t look good on EZ. ... EZ, it did not sound good there.
I think they (training staff) felt like it was similar to what Markus Strong had (season-ending injury). So that’s a tough break for us there.
We’ll confirm all of that, but it didn’t sound good.”
For Elyjah Thurmon, the outlook was better.
“Thurmon, I think, will be probably short-term.”
Swinney also addressed Tait Reynolds, who struggled with two turnovers.
“Call it early-game jitters, if you will. I don’t really know. He’s frustrated as well.”
“Just some early game mistakes on things that he’s just gotta clean up, and it’s really not hard. I just think he gets a little jacked up, but then he settles down.”
“Hopefully, we can get him off to a little better start next game.”
The coach’s final thoughts turned quickly to what’s next, and he didn’t downplay the challenge.
“We’ve got a tough challenge next week. They may be the best team in the country. ..
We’ve seen that quarterback (Darian Mensah, who beat Clemson with Duke last season). He’s a freak show.
They’ve got some dudes.”
“All you can ask for is an opportunity, so it’ll be a huge opportunity. We’ll have to play, by far, our best game to have a chance to beat those guys.”
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