Published Sep 25, 2021
Dabo Swinney knew Clemson was going to face a tough battle
Matt Carter  •  TheWolfpackCentral
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Not many people were anticipating a NC State win over No. 9 Clemson, although to his credit ESPN’s Desmond Howard did pick the Wolfpack on ESPN’s College GameDay.

Yet there was general consensus that NC State would give Clemson a good game. Howard's counterpart, Lee Corso, thought Clemson would win a "real close" one.

Head coach Dabo Swinney was certain it was going to be tight.

“I knew it was going to be an incredibly tough battle,” he said following the Wolfpack’s 27-21 double overtime win.

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Swinney was most complimentary of the Pack’s effort, from the players to the fans.

“They just did a tremendous job,” he said. “Those kids played incredibly hard. The crowd was excellent. It was a great college football game. So, congratulations to those guys, for sure.

“For us, we got a hurt bunch. Really hurting, hurting locker room.”

One aspect of the game that Swinney was most disappointed about were a series of costly penalties by the Tigers, including multiple offside flags that either gave NC State first downs or turned third and longs into more manageable situations.

Swinney described them as “critical” flags.

“I mean it was probably five or six times. … We were just very undisciplined, and that’s not been who we are,” Swinney added.

Most of the focus though is on a Clemson offense that ended regulation with just 184 total yards and eight first downs. The Tigers had only 40 plays going into overtime and 18:12 time of possession compared to 87 and 41:48 respectively for the Wolfpack.

Swinney alluded to the penalties as helping NC State pile up its impressive ball control advantage.

“We just got worn down with the time of possession,” he added.

Still, Swinney admitted that criticisms of the offense were warranted because the unit is not producing. He had to go back to 2010 to find the last time the Clemson offense struggled to this degree.

Swinney professed continued faith in struggling sophomore quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, and he felt that the unit showed some life late in the game.

Ultimately though, the game can best be described by the second overtime, where NC State’s redshirt sophomore Devin Carter made a nice catch in the end zone for what proved to be the game winner, and Clemson could not replicate it.

“Had a good play in the second, we just didn’t come down with it, and they did,” Swinney said. “They made a great play, and we didn’t.”

The end result is Clemson is 2-2, and facing more questions leaving Raleigh than before.

“We’re not very good right now, that’s why we’re 2-2,” Swinney concluded.

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