Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney held his weekly teleconference Sunday to review the win over Miami and look ahead to NC State. Here is a transcript of the teleconference:
Opening Statement
The film was really good as you guys might imagine. That was a fun tape to grade. It was just an outstanding performance from really all areas. It was just a great win from anything you can imagine as far as the things that we were looking for going into that game. It was almost a flawless execution.
It was fun to be a part of a game like that, especially to see us to continue to play well when we played a lot of our backups. Going into game seven, as we enter into the third quarter of our season here, that is kind of what I was hoping is that a lot of the reps and time that we have put into the backups in our meetings and practice and the game experience that some of them have had would show up at some point. A lot of guys got to play a lot of snaps on both sides. To see them go in there and perform like they did was really encouraging. It gives us a great opportunity to coach those guys. Again it was just good for the overall development of your team, depth, morale and so forth.
It was a really good game. We are going to quickly move on to the next one.
We gave up no sacks, 400 and something yards rushing, I don’t know if I will ever be a part of one like that again. That was a pretty special performance by all of those guys and we played a ton of people. We had guys logging a bunch of snaps. Morris played 41 snaps, Hearn played 43 snaps, Falcinelli played 33 snaps, Fruhmorgen played 46 snaps. A lot of guys got a lot of valuable time and just continued to play well.
To shut out Miami is a rare thing. Going into that game those guys were leading the league in passing and to hold them to 93 yards passing and 146 total every one of those guys did a great job of preparing and executing the plan.
I am proud of our team. We will move on quickly. As coaches we start over today. Players will come in here tomorrow and we will refocus them.
NC State is always a tough place to play. They are always a tough opponent. They are playing very well. They are a very efficient team right now. I am just kind of getting into them and looking at them but we will turn the page quickly and move on.
But overall again I am just really pleased with our team. Defensively the shutout, the interceptions, the redzone defense, third down, sacks. Offensively the way we ran the ball, third down we were 8-14, 6-6 in the redzone. No sacks, Watson 79 percent completion and averaged 12.2 per carry. Gallman had his fourth 100 yard game. Jordan Leggett set the record for consecutive touchdowns so a lot of positives. Lakip six touchbacks on kickoffs. We were very efficient in what we did in every area.
I am disappointed we had a big punt return and had it negated with a block in the back and then Ray Ray had a turnover but all in all just a great win.
Players of the Game
Offense – Entire Offensive line
Defense – The entire defense
Special Teams – Dorian O’Daniel
Question – What did you see in practice that gave you an idea this was going to happen?
Dabo – I didn’t expect us to go down there and win like we won. I expected to win the game. I didn’t see anything different in practice than I have seen all year. These guys have been very business like. They have consistently prepared for each and every game like it is the only game of the season. I hope that we don’t play anybody that is more desperate to win than we are. That is just the mentality that we have. If it is a one game season then it is all in all you got.
Question – It looked like Reader picked right up where he left off?
Dabo – He did. I was actually very pleased with him. He moved well and he made a great play down the line of scrimmage on a third down. He is a big man. To see him move like he did was very encouraging.
He was thrilled. He was very positive after the game. He felt good about just being able to get back out there and get going. He was a little sore obviously from his first game but he got some good quality snaps. It is good to have him back. That is for sure.
Question – We saw Dodd in a walking boot after the game. How is the team injury wise?
Dabo – It is his planter fascia thing or whatever. Something on the bottom of his foot. He was able to come back in and finish the game. We will manage him throughout the week. He should be ready to go.
Question – How do you plan to get D.J. in the rotation with the others?
Dabo – Dan Brooks will take care of all that stuff. He has been doing that a long time. We will go to practice every day and everything counts for us just like it always does. It is not any different than it has been. We have always had some good players (at that position). Obviously we lost Josh and Grady and DeShawn from last year’s rotation. This year we have added some guys. Obviously Christian Wilkins and Byers has been very productive for us this year. And Huggins and Jabril. Jabril was out this week. We will evaluate him tomorrow and Tuesday and see where he is.
Question – You spread the ball around to so many people. How hard is that for an opposing defensive coordinator?
Dabo – That is when we are at our best, when we have a lot of people that are worthy of touching the ball. You don’t have to force things. You can just let the game flow. For us it is the first time as a school to rush for over 400 and throw for over 400 in the same season, much less back to back games. That just speaks to our diversity that we have on offense and our ability to not only beat you throwing the ball but to also be able to run the ball effectively. And then to involve a lot of different guys. Not to mention that we have a quarterback that averaged over 12 yards a rush.
I think we have a complete group. We have been working towards that all season long. I think after seven games this group has demonstrated that they are committed and they are serious about being great. They are unselfish. They know that we have a lot of guys that are worthy of touching the ball. They have great respect for that.