Dabo Swinney Era Off And Running At Clemson

By clemsoncannon  |   Monday, September 07, 2009  |  Comments( 0 )

Clemson Tigers
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Dabo Swinney started his non-interim head coaching career with a resounding victory over the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State 37-14 on Saturday night in Death Valley. The Tigers won convincingly over a team that they certainly should have beaten convincingly so it is hard, if not impossible, at this point to put an identity on this Clemson team.

Kyle Parker looked sharp for the most part. He was 9 of 20 for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns. The low completion percentage was not his fault as the Tigers dropped several catchable balls. He probably should have been more like 13 of 20. His performance certainly should solidify his hold on the starting QB job. Willy Korn got into the game in the 2nd quarter and fumbled the ball as he was hit on his first pass attempt. He later threw an interception and had no completed passes in the game.

Jacoby Ford had 3 receptions for 70 yards including a 43 yard touchdown catch in the 2nd quarter. He also returned a punt 61 yards for a touchdown. Sophomore Marquan Jones made a strong showing as he tries to establish himself as the #2 receiver behind Ford. He caught 2 passes for 71 yards including a 33 yard touchdown strike from Parker.

The Tigers gained 202 yards on the ground getting 75 yards from sophomore Jamie Harper and 72 yards from freshman Andre Ellington. Senior CJ Spiller had a huge day on kick returns as he ran the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and later had a 50 yard return on a punt. However he only gained 12 yards on 4 carries before leaving the game with a toe injury suffered during the long punt return. Coach Swinney downplayed the injury after the game saying that Spiller could have returned in the second half but the coach opted to rest him to avoid aggravating the injury further.

The Blue Raiders played hard until the end and gained 289 yards of offense although much of that came against the Clemson second string defense. The first real test for this Clemson team will come Thursday night when they travel to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech.

So congratulations to Coach Swinney on winning his first warm-up game. And now we look forward to Thursday to see if the Tigers have what it takes to compete in the ACC in 2009.
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