Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney held his weekly teleconference Sunday evening where he discussed the win over Georgia Tech and looked ahead to the bye week.
Opening Statement
I think again like I said yesterday it was a really good win for us. It was a very difficult team to prepare for and execute consistently against. We weren’t pretty the whole game but got better as the game went and took advantage of some opportunities. We had some critical errors as well. There were a lot of positives in this game on both sides. This team put a complete game together. It took all three phases making some plays to win the game.
That was good to see our team respond. Every area of the team stepped up in some critical situations. I think that was one of the best positives.
I am looking forward to the open date. We have a lot of guys beat up.
We didn’t have any formal meetings today. Everybody is kind of grading it on their own. We will get together in the morning as a staff and get back going.
It was a big win. Proud of our guys. It was a great job by the staff and we have to just try to keep moving forward.
Injury Update
The one right now if we were playing this weekend that would be the most questionable would be Brandon with his ankle but I think he is going to be okay by the time we play Virginia Tech. Everybody else I think would be good to go if we were playing this week.
Schedule this Week
We will practice. We will meet every day. We will practice Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday will be a community service day. Players will be off on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They will have the weekend off and certainly they have earned that.
We will get back together the following Monday and that is actually fall break for our players so that actually sets up pretty good for a lot of preparation as we get ready for Virginia Tech.
Question – Can you talk about the progression of Nuk this year?
Dabo – He has always been a great receiver. He was outstanding last year just nobody ever really talks about him. Sammy was the guy everybody was talking about and rightfully so. He was a first year player that nobody knew anything about.
The big thing with Nuk is he is just physically so much more mature than he was his freshman year and even his sophomore year. Last year he had played basketball in the offseason. This year he didn’t and I think it has really paid off for him because he is physically a much more developed player.
He was already a very talented player but he is a more experienced, more capable guy from a physical standpoint.
He has a great season going and we are going to need him to continue to play well.
Questions – Does the loss by FSU renew some optimism for your team since they were the front-runner?
Dabo – It certainly kind of gets you one step closer to being back in the hunt. Our guys and our optimism has been very positive. For us that game is in the rearview mirror.
That has nothing to do with us having a great season. It is all still in our control as far as us having a very good season. We are disappointed we didn’t win that game but there was nothing out there as far as these guys being down and not thinking they can go and have a great year.
Anything can happen. Everybody knows it is a long season. The biggest thing is we focus on controlling what we can control and that is really all we can do. If things workout great. When we lost that game that is kind of the situation we put ourselves in where we said okay we don’t have control of our destiny. We need some help but it won’t matter if we don’t take care of what we do control and that is the game in front of us.
I am proud of our team. They have done just that. Going up there to Boston and coming back this week and getting another very crucial win going into the open date.
Question – With the offense clicking and the defense showing some good signs the last couple of weeks is the bye week coming at a good time or bad time?
Dabo – I think the bye is very good timing for us. I really do. We have a lot of maturing to do. We have a lot of development. This will be a good opportunity for us to have a little extra film time. We will get back to some basics from a practice standpoint. We will have a little extra time to get ready for Virginia Tech and a quick turnaround for Wake Forest on a Thursday night.
Question – How is Virginia Tech different defensively?
Dabo – I have not studied them. I have seen some glimpses of a couple of games. I have not studied them at all. We will get on that tomorrow.
Question – What defensive areas are most important to work on going into the bye week?
Dabo – Everything. We have to continue to get better with our recognition, our eyes, our tackling, playing and defeating blocks. Just everything. We are a long way away from being anywhere near a finished product. We have a lot of work to do in every area.