COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Clemson returned home after falling to LSU in the College Football Playoff national championship game.

Dabo Swinney’s team was only able to hold the lead for a little over 5 minutes before LSU’s offense took their 1st lead of the night and later extended their lead to 11. Swinney said his team responded well but just couldn’t get things to work on 3rd down.

“What an unbelievable game,” Swinney said. “We had an opportunity there in the 3rd quarter. I loved how we responded and got the ball back with a 3-point lead, and we just couldn’t quite put enough plays together. It’s probably the worst we’ve been on 3rd down (1-11) in a long time. We had opportunities on 3rd down, but we just didn’t convert, and give them credit.”

Clemson’s offense and star sophomore quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, seemed out of rhythm for the majority of the game. Combine that with the fact that LSU’s graduate quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner, Joe Burrow, seemed to hit his receivers with accuracy and the game turned into an uphill battle.

“But I thought LSU played a beautiful game,” said Swinney. “I thought their quarterback was tremendous. Those receivers — man, they made some incredible plays that were really well-covered, several of them, but they just made the play. And that’s what you’ve got to do to win these types of games. You give them credit, I thought they played a heck of a game and deserved to win the game. They were definitely the better team tonight.”

The LSU Tigers finished with 628 total yards, including 463 yards and 5 touchdowns from the future 1st-round draft pick, Burrow.

Watching film of the LSU game will not be fun for Coach Swinney but in the end, he will use it to help develop and prepare next year’s team—which opens practice in less than 6 weeks.

“But it was great. I mean, it was very competitive,” Swinney said. “Our guys competed their tails off, and this will be a painful tape to watch, but one that will help us. It’ll help us get back to work and build next year’s team.”