Clemson’s Backups 17, UVa. 3: After the 96-yard Tajh Boyd-to-Sammy Watkins TD pass that made it 42-7 Clemson early in the third quarter, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney emptied the bench.
“It was to give the other guys a chance to play. I believe in playing people. These guys practice hard, and they deserve to play,” said Swinney, who “had all the confidence in the world in Cole Stoudt and Chad Kelly that they would be able to go in there and run the offense.”
“I don’t have to have number 10 in there to execute the system. We thought that touchdown was a good way for him to call it a night and finish, but again I have all the confidence in our guys to play and perform. It was a great opportunity for Cole and Chad,” Swinney said.
That Clemson outscored Virginia 17-3 over the final two quarters with its bench is telling.
Not in, uh, their own house: Clemson safety Jayron Kearse seemed a bit offended that lowly Virginia scored its one touchdown, a first-quarter jaunt by David Watford that ever so briefly tied the game at 7.
“We feel like we let ourselves down by letting them even get on the scoreboard,” Kearse said. “We came in thinking shutout and gave them a touchdown. We got it together and decided that they were not getting in the end zone anymore.”
They didn’t. Clemson outscored Virginia 52-3 from the Watford TD run on.
Tajh Boyd had nicer things to say about David Watford than Mike London did: Asked after the game about what he had to say to the beleaguered Watford, Boyd had this to say.
“Keep leading. It’s a tough time for him and their team, but at the same time, everything you experience in this life is a learning lesson. He has to take what he has this year and utilize it in the right way. And that’s what I expressed to him. He’s got to go out there and keep leading. I think they will have a tremendous team. They have a lot of young players right now. They’ve got to build around him.”
Watford finished 16-of-35 passing for 130 yards and one interception. It was a step back for the sophomore after a string of solid efforts in losses to Maryland, Duke and Georgia Tech.
This is what UVa. coach Mike London had to say about Watford.
“You want the throws to be accurate enough so that you give yourself a chance. We’ll watch the tape and have a better assessment on it tomorrow.”
Backup Grayson Lambert was worse than Watford on Saturday, if that’s possible, completing three of his 11 pass attempts for 33 yards.
Parting message: We give this one to UVa. middle linebacker Henry Coley.
“We have no choice but to keep our confidence up. There are still three more games to play.”
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Chris Graham
