Two weeks in, Swinney sees good reason for optimism

CLEMSON — Late Thursday, Dabo Swinney sounded pleased with his team.

Sunday afternoon, he sounded even happier.

“If you thought they played hard Thursday night,” he said of Clemson, “you should watch them on film. I was pleased. They played with great will to win, effort and poise, and to come from down 24-0 to score 27 unanswered points and be in a position to win on the road, that doesn’t happen often. I believe we’re a better team today than we were last week.”

Despite Thursday’s 30-27 loss at No.14 Georgia Tech, Swinney is convinced his team can contend for the Atlantic Division title and an ACC title. Little that happened Saturday could dissuade him from that argument.

Florida State played an absolute stinker against FCS foe Jacksonville State, trailing 9-7 with less than two minutes left before rallying for a 19-9 win. Maryland had to rally and force overtime before escaping with a 38-35 win over noted power James Madison.

Saturday’s foe, Boston College, is 2-0 by a combined 88-7 margin, but those wins came over Northeastern and Kent State. Wake Forest split games against Baylor and Stanford. And even though N.C. State routed Murray State, the lasting image of the Wolfpack is a 7-3 loss to South Carolina — a team that yielded 41 points to Georgia Saturday night.

So why wouldn’t Swinney be happy?

“These guys know,” he said. “It’s one thing to think you can be a good team. It’s another to know you can be a good team, to know you have a good team. The mental part of it — we’ve got an offense that can score and come from behind, a defense that can stop people. Our special teams can be special. These guys are truly all in.”

Thursday night, Clemson faced serious adversity and didn’t fold. Instead, the Tigers fought back, taking a fourth-quarter lead in a hostile environment and nearly putting themselves in position for a game-winning field goal if not for a controversial holding call on guard Thomas Austin which wiped out a 38-yard completion to Jacoby Ford.

They forced seven three-and-outs against Georgia Tech, a true rarity, and held B-back Jonathan Dwyer to 66 yards rushing. In short, they showed signs of toughness sorely missing under Tommy Bowden’s watch.

Given the rest of the division’s struggles, it’s easy to see why this group has its eyes on the ACC title game.

“This is a football team that’s close, that cares about each other,” Swinney said. “It’s a group of guys out there that never quit.”

Are there areas of weakness? Sure. Sunday, Swinney said that sophomore Landon Walker — the starting right tackle in the second half of last season who lost his job to Cory Lambert following poor practice effort — will start Saturday after Lambert was abused by Tech defensive end Derrick Morgan.

Standout quarterback Kyle Parker is young, and will make mistakes. And he needs targets beyond Jacoby Ford and Marquan Jones.

But two weeks into this season, there’s plenty of real evidence to support Swinney’s boundless optimism.

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