CLEMSON — There was a little deja vu for Dabo Swinney during eighth-ranked Clemson’s 27-16 comeback win over Troy on Saturday.
The first time the two teams played back in 2011, during Chad Morris’s first game as the offensive coordinator, Troy took a 16-13 lead into halftime. As the teams headed to the locker room for the break, boos rained down from the stands inside Memorial Stadium. The Tigers responded, though, outscoring the Trojans 30-3 over the final two quarters.
This time around, Troy jumped up on Clemson 16-0 about midway through the second quarter. Once again the boo birds came out. Just like in 2011, the Tigers again dominated the second half, scoring 27 unanswered points while securing their first win of the season.
It was the third-largest comeback ever for Clemson at home, and afterwards, Swinney was asked if he heard the boos once his team was facing a 16-0 deficit.
“Yeah, I was booing too,” the head coach said after the 27-16 victory. “Did you hear me booing? I was booing right along with them.”
Swinney would be the first to admit his team needs to play better offensively than it did in the first half. The Tigers posted just 114 total yards over the first two quarters. At the same time, he didn’t want to shy away from the fact that first half was a little unconventional.
Troy went up almost immediately after a 44-yard touchdown catch by Tray Taylor. The Trojans got their speedy receiver matched up with linebacker Jamal Anderson, and the Tigers’ coaching staff did not see the mismatch until it was too late.
Then, less than five minutes in, came a lengthy lightning delay. After the game resumed, Ashton Hampton picked off Troy QB Goose Crowder at the Trojans’ 30-yard line. Four plays later, just inside of the red zone, Adam Randall fumbled on a first-down run. It was returned 53 yards, giving Troy the ball at the Clemson 37. The Tigers’ defense held the Trojans to a field goal, making it 10-0.
About midway through the second quarter and with Clemson backed up on its own four-yard line, a Cade Klubnik pass was tipped, falling into the hands of TJ Thompson, who took it into the end zone for a pick six. The PAT was no good, and Troy led by 16.
“There was just some weird stuff,” Swinney said. “They hit the double move, then the delay. You’re back out there, and get a turnover and you fumble it. You can’t ask for a better effort from Adam there on the 4th and 2. That would have been a big first down for us. But we don’t get it. The clock is running, and everything is kind of against you. They go make a field goal, and it is 10-0. Then you get the ball back and you get the pick six. It is 16-0. I mean it was crazy.”
That is the point when the boos could be heard. The crowd that remained through the long delay was starting to get restless, and rightfully so, seeing how Clemson was as much as a 33.5-point favorite coming into the matchup.
That is also the point in which things started to turn around, as the Tigers started to find some success over the next few possessions, scoring the final 27 points of the game.
Klubnik averaged more than 11 yards per pass attempt in the second half, and after the team rushed for just 11 yards in the first half, Randall finished with 112 yards on the ground, averaging more than five yards a carry. He also had 23 receiving yards and a 30-yard kickoff return that led to the Tigers’ first three points of the game.
“No, it don’t bother me,” Swinney said of the boos. “Expectations are high here, man. We got to play better. This is a place that cares. And we show we care by how we play. That is part of the game. It is a passionate place.”
Photo by Bart Boatwright
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