Loss to Maryland tested Swinney early

By Cobb Oxford

For the AJC

CLEMSON, S.C. — After dropping a 14-10 decision to nationally ranked TCU at home Sept. 26, Clemson traveled to College Park, Md., on Oct. 3 and did something it became famous for in the Tommy Bowden coaching era.

The Tigers laid an egg. And the egg would have made an ostrich proud.

Maryland, a heavy underdog, tried to give Clemson the game in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers refused to take it. The result was an ugly 24-21 loss that dropped the Tigers to 2-3 overall, 1-2 in the ACC, and put them close to unraveling.

“We were the better football team,” coach Dabo Swinney said. “We should’ve won the game. It was a great lesson in that the best team doesn’t always win.”

With negativity swirling around the program, Swinney refused to push the panic button. The Monday after the loss, he had a meeting and delivered a simple message about accountability.

“It was a come-to-Jesus meeting — offense, defense, special teams,” Swinney said. “I put an accountability tape together because there were a lot of perceptions out there. There’s also reality. I wanted to make sure our players chose to listen to the right things. The defense needed to see the offensive issues, and the offense needed to see the defensive issues.

“We needed to all get on the same page and understand what it was going to take to go from losing to winning.”

With three losses by a total of 10 points, Swinney, facing the first serious challenge of his young career as a head coach, wanted his team to understand the situation wasn’t as bad as it looked on paper. His message of accountability and execution jump-started Clemson’s drive to its first Atlantic Division title and a chance for its first ACC title since 1991.

“[Swinney] said all along that he believed in us,” senior offensive guard Thomas Austin said. “The great thing about coach Swinney is he took a lot of heat and didn’t throw anyone under the bus during that time. You learn a lot about a person’s character when they go through adversity. It definitely showed in coach Swinney.”

During the two weeks after the Maryland loss, the Tigers did some work on themselves.

“We simplified some things and made it less confusing,” said senior tight end Michael Palmer, a Parkview High graduate. “We had some missed assignments and we had some stupid penalties. We had to go back and correct those things.”

On a Wednesday before the next game against Wake Forest, one practice provided some added intensity to Clemson’s refocusing project.

After quarterback Kyle Parker decided to pitch the ball instead of keeping it during a play, Swinney called him “soft” and chewed him out. When offensive coordinator Billy Napier defended his quarterback, Swinney and Napier got into it on the practice field.

Against the Demon Deacons, Parker ran a similar play and went airborne for a touchdown.

“In so many words, I said he was soft and that he should have stuck that in there,” Swinney said. “So when he came off the field after the touchdown, he said, ‘How do you like that, coach?’ He didn’t exactly say it as nice as that. And I’m proud of that. I loved his response.”

After the loss to Maryland, Clemson scored at least 34 points in six consecutive victories before losing to South Carolina 34-17 last Saturday in the regular-season finale.

“We had two great weeks of practice on execution and getting better at what we were doing,” Swinney said. “We hit the ground running, and we haven’t looked back.”