Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney held his Sunday teleconference where he reviewed the victory over NC State and looked ahead to the rival game with South Carolina.
Opening Statement
It was a wild and whacky game last night. But I tell you what there were a lot of good things. All wins are good wins in my vision. I am proud of my guys.
The big thing is we responded to adversity last night. We got up quick and then the next thing you know you are down 24-13. I really liked how our team responded. I liked how our staff responded. There were a lot of great things accomplished in the game and throughout our season to this point to be honest with you.
Offensively 754 yards of total offense. We did a lot of good things. Our offensive line was outstanding. They were leading the league in sacks and we gave up none. The big penalty we had was a 50 yard run called back. We had some uncharacteristic drops which was very disappointing. We had some turnovers so the good news is we still haven’t played our best game. We have a lot to challenge these guys with this week.
Defensively obviously it was a poor first half. The really big disappointment was they had four one play touchdowns. That was 28 points just bam, bam, bam bam. I thought we really came back and played a strong second half. We held them to one touchdown that I would say was put on the defense. The interception we gave them the short field and the same thing with on the kick return. Sacks were big. The stops on fourth down. We had a couple of them. The two turnovers we created led to points. We competed with great effort all night long.
On special teams we blocked another kick. Catman hit a couple of big field goals. The biggest disappointment was the big plays we gave up and our kickoff coverage was real poor.
We made a lot of mistakes. We are still improving. Another opportunity this week to try to go and put it all together. That is what we are going to have to do. We have to have great preparation. This is an outstanding team we are about the play. We will have to play very well and execute with a high level of consistency for four quarters to win the game.
Look forward to diving into the film tonight as we put the other one to bed. Again it is a great opportunity for us. I am proud of the team. I look forward to get competition this week.
Injuries
The only one that I would say is probably doubtful is Breeland. Everybody else should be good to go.
Players of the Game
Offense – Tajh Boyd and Andre Ellington
Defense – Vic Beasley, Xavier Brewer
Special Teams – Chandler Catanzaro, DeShawn Williams
Question – Can you talk about the role Brandon Ford has played this year after losing a great player like Dwayne Allen?
Dabo – Well that is what you want to have in your program as you graduate great players. Other guys step up and seize their opportunities and that is exactly what Brandon Ford has done this year. In fact I thought yesterday was probably his best game of the year. Obviously he went over 100 yards receiving but his physical play has just improved so much with his blocking. He is a very smart player and I am really proud of him. He has helped this team a ton this year and he has helped himself this year. I think he has proven that he can play after Clemson.
Question – How do you feel Brandon Thomas has played the last few weeks. He has a big challenge this week with Clowney?
Dabo – He has had a good year you know. He really has. He was kind of up and down consistency wise for a little while there. The last few weeks he has really put it together. In particular these last couple of ball games. He has played outstanding football. He has played a lot of snaps and really not had many mental errors.
Our offensive line as a whole has probably had their best couple of ball games here against Duke, Maryland and NC State. They have really played well as a unit. That has been the good thing. They are kind of putting it together as a group. That is what you like to see and that is what you have to have in the offensive line.
The last two games we have played the team that has led the league in sacks and we have given up zero. And you rush the ball for 320 something yards against a team that has not given up a lot of rushing yards and there are some guys up front getting it done.
I am really proud of that group and the pride that they have taken in just trying to get better. The leadership of Dalton Freeman has been awesome and Robby Caldwell has done an outstanding job every week of preparing them and challenging them.
Question – What are your general impressions of South Carolina this year?
Dabo – Well it is the same old South Carolina. They are what we have seen the last two or three years. They are a very talented group. This will be as good of a team as we’ve played. They are right there for sure with Florida State who is obviously an outstanding team. There defense is just lights out with the type of personnel that they have. They can create a lot of pressure. They have a lot of the same guys back from last year that played against us. Obviously Lattimore is not there but their quarterback really killed us last year. They have some playmakers outside. But we are just kind of getting into studying them and breaking them down personnel wise but I have seen them a couple of times on TV. They are outstanding on the return game and shoot the way we covered the other night that is a big concern.
So we have our hands full. Like I said we will have to execute very consistently for four quarters and put it all together on Saturday night.
Question – How encouraged are you that the offensive line is playing well when you are going up against the best defense you have faced since Florida State?
Dabo – Well I am encouraged. We have had times where we have played well. We have been up and down and had times where we were inconsistent as a group. But this is a tough match-up regardless of how you play. As you said you aren’t going to go against a better group in the country then what we are going to see. But that is what you want to do. You want to play the best. These guys present that challenge. We will find out how our guys respond to it but I am certainly pleased with how they have performed this year.
It is going to take a great effort on their part Saturday night.
Question – Is this the healthiest you have been as a team at the end of the year since you have been here?
Dabo – I don’t really know. I don’t even know who was out last year.