It was a close one, but No. 9 Clemson defeated the Louisville Cardinals, 20-17, in the Tigers’ first road game of the season. Head coach Dabo Swinney, the coordinators and a few players spoke to the media after their ACC victory.

Here is what we heard:

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables was very pleased with the attitude his defense brought to the field. Clemson’s defense held the Cardinals to 19 rushing yards while only allowing them to convert on 2 of 14 third downs.

“I loved watching our guys battle. What a fun game to be a part of. Its something we really talked a lot about during the week. You’ve got to have that road dog mentality. You’ve got to have an edge to you, a toughness about you,” Venables said. “I don’t know how many years it’s been since (Louisville’s) been 0-3 but I know it’s been a whole bunch of them,”

Clemson’s defense was a major part of the Tigers’ success on the road, and that was something Venables knew he had to preach to his team before they stepped out on the field to face a desperate opponent.

“Really, we all said right before we left the hotel that we’re going to have to come up with a stop on defense to win this game, and low and behold our guys were ready for it. They embraced the moment, Venables said. “They went out there and fought and battled, they played football. What a great team win.”

Swinney mentioned he was very proud of how well his team played when faced with so much adversity. He gave Louisville a lot of credit for how hard they fought, and he was happy Clemson was able to pull out a win.

“We’re very fortunate to get out of here with a win. Those guys fought, they never gave up all the way to the end and gave themselves a chance to win. Give them credit for a hard fought game, but at the end of the day, I am so proud of our football team,” Swinney said. “We had enough adversity in this game for the whole year, the whole season.”

Defensive end Kevin Dodd recorded his first sack of the season in a critical moment in the fourth quarter. Louisville was on its final drive in an attempt to win the game or tie it, but Dodd sacked the quarterback for a loss of four yards, which kept the clock rolling since the Cardinals had no timeouts.

“I just knew I had to give it my all in that last play,” Dodd said. “I was just fighting, I can’t even recall the last play, I was just fighting, trying to get off the field, trying to find a way to win the game.”

Clemson’s defense dominated Louisville’s running game and sacked the quarterback five times for a total loss of 31 yards. Defensive end Shaq Lawson also recorded a crucial sack against the Cardinals.

“It felt great. We came in the game trying to come in and stop the run because that’s what they like to do,” Lawson said. “I knew my time was coming and I knew I had to make a play.”

Swinney is happy with his team’s effort, but he knows that they have a lot to improve upon if they want to go on to win the division.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got a lot that we can learn and grow from this game. We didn’t win the division tonight, but our goal was to be 3-0 and that’s where we are,” he said.