Eight first downs. That is the number that lingers
Clemson picked up eight first downs in Baton Rouge last Saturday. LSU had 38. The yardage read 145 to 644.
A 51-10 loss to the No. 11 team in the country, and the worst night Dabo Swinney has had since he took the job. Clemson had not been beaten that badly since 2000.
“It didn’t go the way we expected or the way we wanted, but we move on,” Swinney said. “There are 11 left and we’ll count them all at the end. Everything is here, right now, and it’s about getting ready for Georgia Southern.”
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Nobody has won the quarterback job yet
Christopher Vizzina and Tait Reynolds split the snaps in Louisiana. Their combined output was 105 passing yards.
This is the program that sent Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence into the league, and that stole two national titles in the thick of the Nick Saban run. It is also the program that went 7-6 last year and lost four times inside its own stadium.
Swinney knows which number bothers him more. “That is a big goal for me this year. It always is, but especially after last year. We have to get back to doing our job at home.” Memorial Stadium gets the chance Saturday night.
Georgia Southern did not make the trip to be a tune-up
The Eagles are 1-0 after shutting out Charleston Southern 31-0 and holding them to 117 yards. Clay Helton is not letting anyone in his building get carried away with that.
“One of the things coach Swinney does so well is getting his teams ready after adversity. They always bounce back. He is still one of only two active coaches with two FBS national titles.”
Aaron Sears, on the Georgia Southern defense, had less interest in the diplomacy. “I don’t like to get ahead of myself, but after what I saw, I was smiling a lot when I thought about our chances this week.”
History still pushes the other way. Clemson have not lost to a team from outside the Power conferences since TCU got them in 2009, and Georgia Southern have only been to Memorial Stadium once before. They left in 2018 having taken a 38-7 beating.
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