Although it was another dominating performance for No. 1 Clemson as it beat Charlotte 52-10 Saturday night in Death Valley, the top-ranked Tigers prioritized class over dominance just like they always do.
Not only did starting quarterback and potential Heisman candidate Trevor Lawrence leave the game at the very start of the second quarter, but Clemson played 111 different players that game which became a new program record.
“That’s just who we are,” head coach Dabo Swinney said after the game. “We want to beat the opponent, but we don’t want to embarrass anybody. That is not the objective. Obviously, we could have scored 100 points.
“If we leave Trevor Lawrence out there, he could have had all kind of stats and he could be written up for the Heisman this week, but we are not interested in that. We are just interested in winning the game, trying to win with class and not get anybody hurt and those types of things and grow our team.”
Will Swinney’s style influence the way Heisman Trophy voters look at candidates? Should they look at the overall picture, compared to just final stat lines?
Lawrence finished the game with 7 of 9 passing for 94 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions while playing just 15 minutes and 4 seconds.
Meanwhile, 326 miles away down in Tuscaloosa, Ala, Alabama beat Southern Miss 49-7. Star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was taken out at the 5:43 mark of the third quarter following an Alabama touchdown that gave them a 42-7 lead.
He finished the day 17 of 21 for 293 yards with 5 touchdown passes and 0 interceptions, which sounds a lot better on paper compared to Lawrence…but was it really that much better?
On Monday Clemson co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott gave his opinion on the situation.
“I don’t know if I know the answer to that one,” Elliott said, “but that’s something we believe in whole heartedly starting at the top with Coach Swinney all the way down to the coaches in the locker room.
“And if it catches on, it catches on. But really we’re focusing on ourself. But here recently we’ve had a chance to kind of impact college football a little bit.”
With Swinney at the helm, Clemson has done everything the right way and they don’t plan on changing that to meet individual accomplishments anytime soon.
“It is cool,” Swinney said. “You got a lot of guys who can say they played for the Tigers and nobody can ever take that away from them.
“I just think that is what it is all about. There are a lot of guys that work really, really hard that don’t get a chance to play or play much. For them to be rewarded for their hard work and to have a chance to go play in a setting like that is pretty special.”
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