Dabo Swinney Provides Update on Banged Up Offensive Line After Week 12 Win

Dabo Swinney recently provided an update on the offensive line

Nov 9, 2024; Blacksburg, Virginia, USA; Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney greets fans before the game against the Virginia Tech Hokies at Lane Stadium. / Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

After a big win in Week 12, the Clemson Tigers are heading into Week 13 a bit banged up. 

The Tigers came away with a big win against the Pittsburgh Panthers to keep their hopes of making the college football playoff alive. 

Week 12 was the final regular season ACC game for Clemson, and they finished up conference play with a solid 7-1 record. While that is a very solid record, the Tigers will need some help if they are going to make it to the ACC Championship Game. 

With time running out on the season, the most likely way for the Tigers to get into the championship game is for the Miami Hurricanes to lose one of their final two conference games of the season. 

Clemson will have two games left this year, but they will be playing against The Citadel and the South Carolina Gamecocks. 

As the Tigers head into Week 13, head coach Dabo Swinney recently gave an update on some injuries along the offensive line. 

“Yeah, we got a feel,” Swinney said to Jason Preister of the Clemson Insider. “It’s crazy.” “Sadler and Tate and Leigh and Elyjah are really good players, but we’ll see,” Swinney added. “We’ll see where we’re at (Monday) and figure it out. We got a whole week to figure it out. So we’ll roll some guys out there.” I do feel good about where Tristan and Marcus are, as far as the progress that they’re making,” Swinney said. “So hopefully they’ll keep trending in a good direction.”

The unit is certainly banged up going into the matchup against The Citadel, which could pose some potential problems. In the narrow win against the Panthers, the offensive line struggled, as the Tigers couldn’t get anything going on the ground. 

Phil Mafah had his worst game of the season, as he totaled just 17 rushing yards on 17 carries. The banged up offensive line was likely a big contributor to that. 

While Clemson should be able to handle their Week 13 opponent with a banged up offensive line, they will need the unit to be healthy against the Gamecocks. 

As the week goes on, the Tigers should get some more clarity on who will be in and who will be out on the offensive line. Hopefully, the unit will have a good couple of days off an get healthy for their Week 12 matchup.