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Rex Brown

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, left, talks with offensive coordinator Billy Napier during fall camp earlier this year at Memorial Stadium in Clemson.

CLEMSON — Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. But according to Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and offensive coordinator Billy Napier, that doesn’t necessarily mean the house is burning down.

On Tuesday, Swinney and Napier each addressed rumors of a heated dispute between the two during the Tigers’ practice last Wednesday, which just so happened to be the same day the Tiger Band was invited to attend practice.

And while neither explicitly denied such an exchange, both said it was nothing out of the ordinary during football practice — which Swinney pointed out “sometimes isn’t for the faint of heart” — and certainly wasn’t evidence of a fracture in their relationship.

“I probably picked a bad day to invite people to practice last Wednesday,” Swinney said. “There comes a time when you need to motivate your football team — and you need to motivate your coaches, or challenge them. I don’t know if y’all paid attention, but we lost a ball game up there at Maryland and aren’t real happy about it.”

The 24-21 loss to the Terrapins, who had previously fallen to Middle Tennessee for the second straight season and needed overtime to beat FCS foe James Madison, dropped the Tigers to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in ACC play.

In the defeat, Clemson had the ball inside the Maryland 32 three times, twice via Terp turnovers, in the fourth quarter with chances to tie or win the game but failed to produce a single point.

Asked about speculation that the altercation was the result of the two clashing over the play-calling against Maryland, and specifically Swinney overruling his offensive coordinator during several late-game situations, the Tiger head coach flatly denied the idea.

“There’s no truth to that,” Swinney said. “There’s nothing further from the truth. That’s why you shouldn’t listen to the Internet.”

Napier, for his part, also downplayed suggestions that Swinney had a tendency to usurp control of the offense in critical situations.

“Coach Swinney and I have a good relationship from that standpoint on game day,” Napier said. “He’s doing a good job of managing the game, and we obviously put a lot of time in preparation during the week to alleviate that problem. It hasn’t been a problem this season so far.”

Napier also said that reports of an altercation between he and Swinney probably stemmed more from outsiders attending the practice of a football team that is, admittedly, frustrated with how its season has gone thus far.

“I didn’t think it was that big a deal,” he said. “Obviously, when you’ve got the band at practice, rumors are going to fly. So, it was just a normal, intense practice with intense, competitive guys. Hopefully, we’ll have more like that.”

Swinney, meanwhile, said that he had rarely used his veto power to change offensive play calls, claiming he’d “probably overridden three calls in five ball games.”

“I don’t know where that comes from, but I can assure you that I don’t override play calls and all that,” he said. “I manage the game. I may say, ‘Hey, let’s run it,’ or, ‘Hey Billy, let’s take a shot,’ but the game plan is done.

“We work all week on a game plan. And there’s a call sheet, and you go over that call sheet. We’re not just randomly calling plays on game day. There’s a lot of time and hours put into it.”

The Clemson head coach, who also celebrated his one-year anniversary of taking over that role on Tuesday, said he had full confidence in Napier’s ability as an offensive coordinator and planned to let him do the job he was hired to do.

“Last Wednesday, it’s an open date, and everybody wants to write about me and Billy. Well, what about me and Pearman? And Coach Scott? And Coach Powell and Coach Steele? Because I got a piece of all of them too, and every one of them players,” Swinney said.

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Line changes possible. Napier said that going into Tuesday’s practice, no decision had been made as to whether Mason Cloy, who has started all five games at center thus far, or redshirt freshman Dalton Freeman would be the starter for Saturday’s game against Wake Forest.

“Freeman’s blowing up, as a redshirt freshman, and he’s earned more opportunities,” Napier said.

The Tiger offensive coordinator said he expect the two to receive about the same amount of playing time regardless of who actually started and that, if the move was made, Cloy could also see significant work at guard.