Clemson’s dumbest fake of all time resulted in a horrifying miss; Is Dabo Swinney to blame?
Clemson had one of its worst fake plays ever in a college football game against Georgia Tech on Saturday.
It doesn’t make any sense.
Not at all.
The Tigers had fourth-and-9 at their own 20-yard line with just over nine minutes left in the first half.
They don’t need to take any big steps to get back in the game.
They are not in a position where deception can create much momentum.
Neither team scored.
Only 14 kills were made.
Fifth-year punter Aidan Swanson lines up to take the ball out of his own six-yard line.
He caught the snap with both arms outstretched and for some reason decided to run away.
Swanson wasn’t very fast so this was a miserable failure.
He has nowhere to go.
The Yellowjackets’ defense covered it at 25, five yards on first down.
Georgia Tech got good field position and opened the scoring two plays later.
The origin of the fake punt is not entirely clear.
Head coach Dabo Swinney is being blamed for this terrible call.
If he actually told Swanson to run fourth-and-9 from inside the 10, that would be preposterous.
This is one of the worst and most baffling coaching decisions of all time.
However, this may not be Swinney’s fault.
Swanson may have committed fraud.
The 6-foot-3, 170-pound punter may have thought he saw a big enough hole in the defense to take a first down and call his number.
Clemson’s formation and blocking scheme looked off from the moment the ball was snapped. It did not appear as though they were prepared for Swanson to take off.
Regardless of who was at fault, it could not have gone any worse. Swinney will have to address that one after the game, win or lose.
