During the second quarter of Saturday’s ACC Championship Game between Clemson and North Carolina, Tigers punter Andy Teasdall took matters into his own hands and made a decision that was not expected by head coach Dabo Swinney. As you can probably imagine, this did not go over well with Swinney.
With Clemson up 14-9, and facing a 4th down and 15 with less than five minutes remaining in the first half, Teasdall was in to punt with the ball on Clemson’s 30 yard line. Instead of going ahead with the planned punt, Teasdall took off running in hopes of gaining enough yards for a first down. Unfortunately, he did not. Teasdall gained just four yards and the Tigers turned the ball over on downs.
Raise your hand if you made a better decision than the #Clemson punter today -> -> pic.twitter.com/UkaBr7hWKK
— Gerry Hamilton (@HamiltonESPN) December 6, 2015
After exiting the field, Teasdall predictably got an earful from Swinney. Five plays later, North Carolina was in the end zone and the Tar Heels were up 16-14 after the extra point.
Clemson would add a touchdown of its own to make the score at halftime 21-16 in favor of the Tigers. However Swinney was still displeased with the fake punt attempt and called out his punter during his halftime interview.
"My punter, I don't have an explanation. He tried to do something on his own… it cost us a touchdown" #Clemson's Dabo Swinney on ABC. #ACC
— Ben Raby (@BenRaby31) December 6, 2015
What Swinney said is correct. The problem is, it isn’t a good look for a head coach to say things like this out loud and for the entire country to hear. Teasdall probably feels bad enough already. He already got yelled at on the sideline and then got thrown under the bus. That’s certainly not the way to build a player’s confidence.
