CLEMSON – With his team up 41-17 midway through the fourth quarter against Virginia, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney started doing what he typically does late in these types of games. He started sending in the reserves.
Although, despite being down more than two scores, Tony Elliott’s Cavaliers kept coming. An 8-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Tony Muskett followed by a successful 2-point conversion with just over two minutes to play pulled the Cavaliers to within 41-25. Despite an onside kick that was unsuccessful, Swinney had seen enough, and sent his first-team offense back out on the field.
“I’m trying to call the dogs out,” Swinney said after the win. “But that is what I told those guys. When we put the subs in, they don’t call timeout and say, ‘Oh they put the backups in, let’s put our backups in.’ They don’t do that.”
When starting quarterback Cade Klubnik took the field with the rest of the first-string offense after Chris Vizzina and some of the backups played just one offensive possession in the fourth quarter that led to a punt, the goal was simple. Put more points on the board.