BATON ROUGE, La. -- Dabo Swinney was succinct in his evaluation of Clemson's performance Saturday in a dismal 51-10 loss to LSU.
"The best thing about that one," he said, "is that it's over."
This was the fourth straight year -- and fifth time in six seasons -- that Clemson has started 0-1, but this was more than just another Week 1 defeat. Clemson's lone offensive points came on a field goal following an early interception and a garbage-time touchdown. By midway through the fourth quarter, the stands in Death Valley -- "the real Death Valley," as one LSU fan shouted at the Clemson players leaving the field afterward -- had nearly emptied and LSU had outgained Clemson by nearly 500 yards.
It was, by score and by the eye test, the worst defeat of Swinney's career as a head coach.
"We got our asses kicked," he said.
Swinney noted an early pick-six by starting QB Christopher Vizzina as a dagger, but to put the onus on any one play would be impossible. Clemson was awful in every facet.
Before a late 60-yard touchdown drive on Clemson's final possession, Swinney's team mustered just 85 yards of total offense. All 40 of Clemson's total rushing yards came on that final drive. Vizzina was benched for freshman Tait Reynolds after a miserable first half, but the backup didn't fare any better, completing 4-of-6 passes for just 22 yards. Swinney said he wasn't sure which QB would start next week against Georgia Southern.
"I didn't expect their offense to be that dysfunctional," LSU coach Lane Kiffin said after the game. "Our [scout] team scored more than they did against us."
On defense, Clemson was every bit as bad. LSU racked up 644 yards of offense, the second most allowed in Swinney's tenure with the Tigers, including 309 yards on the ground. Tailback Dilin Jones and QB Sam Leavitt each rushed for more than 100 yards, and Swinney lambasted his defense for an inability to set the edge.
"We did a really poor job, especially against the stretch play," Swinney said. "And they really killed us on third down."
LSU converted 11-of-16 on third down and its only fourth-down try. Clemson, meanwhile, was just 1-of-13 on third down.
For a game that was billed as a battle between two power programs built in polar opposite manners -- LSU with a massive budget and a cadre of big-name transfers, Clemson via an old-school recruit-and-develop approach -- the verdict was emphatic. LSU dominated every facet of the game.
But Swinney refused to say LSU's approach and budget was the reason for the blowout.
"We didn't do football stuff well enough," Swinney said. "I'm not sitting around judging other people on what their resources are or what they can do. It is what it is. It's our job to be the best we can be and we were not that tonight with what we have. It's my job to get us better."
Swinney, often optimistic even in defeat, called Clemson's postgame locker room "tough" but said he was hopeful this would be a game that forced his team to develop. If it doesn't, he said, Clemson won't beat Georgia Southern next week either.
"We've got a long way to go," Swinney said. "We're going to get better. I know this is not the start anybody wanted and certainly the way the score went, but they're a really good football team and we're a lot better than what we played."
