Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney held his weekly teleconference Sunday where he reviewed the win over NC State and looked ahead to Florida State. A transcript of the teleconference follows:
Opening Statement
“A little recap again from last night. It was a great win. Obviously they are all great but to win a game like that where there were a lot of unique situations in the game, a lot of adversity. There were a lot of big momentum swings against us in the game that we were able to overcome time and time again. I am really proud of our guys.
I thought the first half we made lots of mistakes but to still be up at halftime is a credit to our guys. In the third quarter we played really, really good football. We were up 20 and really had a chance to kind of put this thing away and obviously we had the fumble there that kind of gave them new life.
We showed a lot of heart and toughness. As I said last night back to back road wins is not an easy thing but our guys found a way to get it done.
Offensively the biggest thing is we answered all night. We didn’t flinch.
Our defense probably played their worst game. A lot of mental errors. Some of our best players didn’t play up to their standard. Missed tackles, sacks. We had two really disappointing plays that went for over 100 yards in the run game. Two plays that hadn’t happened to us all year so I am just disappointed with that.
But our offense answered all night and that was great to see. Our defense has answered for the offense many, many, many times. You go back to the Louisville game this year and we were moving ball but we just couldn’t quite finish in the redzone like we wanted to. But the defense just kept stopping them, kept stopping them all night long. So it was great to see the offense answer with 600 plus on the No. 3 defense in the country defensively with great balance. Give a lot of credit to our offensive line. They were just tremendous all night. They really have been all year. They just continue to improve. Third down offensively was outstanding. Redzone offense was very good.
We had seven different guys with touchdowns. Wayne Gallman with 170 plus, just a workhorse for us. Zac Brooks coming up big for us. Ray Ray, Charone, Artavis, Deon Cain, Renfrow. A lot of guys made big plays in the game, but none bigger than that quarterback we got. He was just spectacular. 77 percent and produced six touchdowns so and he just keeps getting better. I think he was honored as the National Offensive Player of the Week so I am really happy for him.
We did have some miscues. We put the ball on the ground a couple of other times we were able to get it back but that was disappointing. We had a few penalties and missed a few plays. We did have the two sacks.
Defensively as I said earlier not our best night but when we had to have the stops we had them. We did create the turnover. We had five sacks but could have had a lot more. Give that quarterback credit. He was able to allude us a few times. BJ Goodson I thought played a great game. I thought Travis Blanks played excellent as well. We did a nice job on third down getting off the field but certainly an area we can improve in. I didn’t think our secondary played very well. A couple of guys that normally we can count on didn’t have their best games. We will refocus this week and get better. I don’t have any doubt.
On special teams we were able to block a kick which was good to see. We made three field goals that were obviously big in the game. Nine points and we win by 15. We did a nice job on the kickoff return and then didn’t really have any opportunities on the punt return. But their punter did a great job of hanging it up there and Renfrow did a good job of handling the ball. Maybe the biggest play in the game was our hands team. The play that Renfrow made. What a huge play that was. Obviously the kickoff coverage was a major issue. We gave up the one score and that was just a combination of poor effort and just not doing what we need to do in a couple of areas. And then the second one was we skied it and the guys just kind of relaxed and the next thing you know they pitch the ball back and break containment. And then we give up a one play score after that on the touchdown on Cordrea.
So we have some things that we have to improve on obviously. And enough mistakes that really could have cost us the game but we still found a way to win. Too many mental errors defensively. Things that we will get corrected.
The extra point we gave up pressure inside in the A gap on the first one. On the second one Huegel just kicked it into the ground. Just a low kick. He just missed it. Those are things that we will get corrected. We took the punt returner out of the game. We thought he was an exceptional guy. We didn’t average what we normally do on punt team but we accomplished what we were trying to do.
Again great win. We will continue to move forward. Obviously we have a great opportunity this week against Florida State. This is a huge game for both teams. We all know what is at stake. We will get back at it tomorrow and try to get a great plan together. We are looking forward to being back in the Valley this week.
Players of the Game
Offense – Deshaun Watson
Defense – B.J. Goodson
Special Teams – Hunter Renfrow
Question – Will you remind your players this week of the 51-13 loss to Florida State two years ago or is it better not to bring that up at all?
Dabo – You don’t have to bring that up. A lot of these guys were part of that. We don’t have to bring that up. You remember every loss. I promise you. Those are the ones you remember more than anything which is sad. The one they will remember the most is the one from last year. We had the opportunity to win the game about five different times and didn’t finish. This one you don’t have to say a whole lot. They know what is at stake.
Question – Your only turnover was the Gallman fumble. It looked like you treated that as a teaching moment?
Dabo – That is exactly what I told him. I said listen that is the first time you have put the ball on the ground. I said this is a good opportunity for you to learn. You are a young player and I said let’s just take a deep breath and think about this. It is a 20 point lead in the fourth quarter on the road. I love your effort. I love your fight. I love that he wants to get every inch. He is never satisfied. But in that situation. Let’s get down right there. We got the first down. Let’s just get down and go to the next play. He was fighting and scratching and clawing so it was just a good opportunity to teach.
This kid has been a workhorse and he has done a great job of taking care of the football for us.
Question – Aside from all of the success has this been one of the crazier years you have been involved with? You finally won one in a shootout. You have won games that came down to the final play, in Hurricanes and ones with 16 days between games. It has been a crazy year.
It has. We have had a little bit of everything but you know all those things are good. All those things build character. It is just like the first part of the year I have a lot of the media they are like what is wrong with the passing game. We can’t pass the ball. Deshaun Watson is not putting up great numbers. In the meantime we are rushing for 270 plus yards. I am like there is nothing wrong with the passing game. We are just doing what we have to do to win games. I think the confidence that we were able to build throughout the early part of the season with our offensive line and being able to run the ball has really set everything up for us offensively. Because none of us around here were worried about the passing game. But instead of trying to please people with stats and stuff like that and trying to prove something we have always taken what is there. I think Jeff and Tony have done a great job of that all year long. And we have created great balance as a result and great confidence. We have created the mentality more importantly that we want to have offensively, especially up front.
It has been a crazy year for sure but if you are going to have a great year you have to win all kind of ways. It is not always going to be the same recipe each and every week. Crazy things happen in this game as we all know. These are young people and the other team has scholarship players too. They have good players and good coaches and they have want to and will to win just like we do. For our guys to keep finding a different way to win every week is a beautiful thing.
Question – What was the process of recruiting Hunter Renfrow and getting him on the roster?
Dabo – Well Danny Pearman did a great job in recruiting him first of all. I have known his dad for a long time. When I was an assistant here in recruiting I had the Pee Dee area. He dad was a long time coach down there. I have known his dad for a long time and his family they are Clemson people. They have a bunch of kids in their family and several of them have come to Clemson. I think that was his dream, to come to Clemson. Coming out of high school he was only about 155 pounds and he was playing quarterback. Danny just kept bringing him up to us and saying this guy is an unbelievable athlete. He did a great job of selling him on if you really want to play at Clemson I think you can and hey come give it a shot here.
We brought him in on an official visit. We recruited him as if we were going to put him on scholarship. We didn’t promise him anything. We told him we would give him an opportunity. He had a lot of work to do. He wasn’t going to be an elite player at 155 pounds and he hadn’t played receiver. And then he went to the Shrine Bowl and played receiver and did a great job. He had a bunch of offers. He had some division 1 offers but it was his goal and his dream. He had some academic money. He is a great student. He decided he wanted to give it a shot.
So he came in here and once he got here we real quickly realized wow this guy has quite a skill set. We just have to help him here. We have to develop him. Joey Batson has done a great job with Hunter. He has put on 20 pounds in a year since he has been here. You have to give Renfrow the credit because he put the work in. He came in and he knew what his skill level was. He was confident that he knew he could compete but he had to get stronger and bigger. The only way that was going to happen he was going to have to get serious about the weight room.
He redshirted and got into power hour and then this spring started separating a little bit. He got in the two deep and then busted his butt all summer. When he came into fall camp, by the end of camp. We talked about him all the time but you guys felt like we were just blowing smoke every week. What you are seeing in the games is what we are seeing in practice.
Question – Can you elaborate on the situation with Watson and the NC State coach?
Dabo – “I talked to the assistant. I talked to coach Doeren. They called me right afterwards. I was on the bus heading to the airport. Listen Dave Doeren he will handle his staff. They took ownership of it. Everybody recognizes that can’t happen. They handled it the right way. Listen there is no issue. Dennis Kitchens is a good guy. I have always had a lot of respect for him. He just got caught up in the moment. I have great respect for coach Doeren and how he is managing his program. Sometimes you have things popup along the way that you as a head coach have to deal with. I can promise you he will handle that the right way. They all did. Dennis apologized and called me personally. Let’s move on. We all have bigger things to do than worry about that.”