Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney held his weekly Sunday teleconference where he reviewed the win over Wake Forest and looked ahead to South Carolina.

A transcript of tonight’s teleconference:

Opening Statement

It is hard to believe it is our 12th game and we are done with all of our home games. I am really proud of our team for being undefeated at home and 8-0 in the ACC. It is exciting to be 11-0 right now. It has been a goal of ours each year to win them all. So far we have been able to get that done so proud of our team for competing the way that they compete. It is really difficult to win each and every week. Other teams have good players and good coaches. I am just proud of these guys for finding ways to continue to win ball games.

There were a lot of good things in the game. Offensively a lot of guys touched the ball. We had some big plays in the game. Deshaun Watson was right at 70 percent again with three touchdowns. He threw some really nice deep balls. I thought out two minute drill right before the half was very well executed. We did a good job with our third and long. I am disappointed with our turnovers. We gave Wake Forest a couple of short fields. That was disappointing. We had some mental errors that we have to get cleaned up.

We got a lot of yards though. That team held Notre Dame to about 280 last week and for us to put up 555 yards. We didn’t come away with as many points as we wanted too, but we had two drives that started on the minus one. We moved the ball a long way and then had some penalties, we had a couple of tackles for loss. We had some turnovers and some things that didn’t help us but I am pleased with how we moved the football. We got to play a lot of guys. That is going to help us down the stretch I believe.

Defensively we looked like the defense that we are. We looked like the fifth ranked defense out there playing. We stopped the run. When we can take the run away from people it makes it a long day. We were sound and disciplined. We had ten three and outs. We had twelve tackles for loss, five sacks. One of the things I was really pleased with was we played a lot of guys. As we got other guys in the game they continued to really play well. That was good to see, a guy like Jalen Williams for example. He did a nice job for us.

Again overall a good solid win. I am pleased with where we are as a team. We know that we want to sprint through the finish line. We still got a lot of work to do.

Obviously South Carolina is a huge game for everybody involved. I look forward to putting a good plan together and go compete against those guys.

Players of the Game

Offense – Germone Hopper

Defense – Kevin Dodd

Special Teams – Dorian O’Daniel

Injury Updates

Ben is going to be okay. He had a stinger. He looked a little better today so he should be fine. The same with all the rest of the guys. A couple of guys have some nicks and bruises but nothing that should keep anybody out of practice or the game.

Hopefully we will get Gibson and Kendall Joseph back. We will definitely get Wayne and Mackensie back.

Question – What about Tryone Crowder and Ray Ray McCloud?

Dabo – They are better. We will know more tomorrow. Those guys progressed very well. I haven’t seen them today. We will get them back on the field tomorrow and see where they are. I think Crowder should definitely be a go. I need to see Ray Ray cut and do some more things tomorrow before I can answer that fully. But he really improved a whole bunch as the week went on last week but he is still not for sure.

Question – The consensus heading into this year was that Clemson might be next year in this position. Has this team arrived sooner than you expected?

Dabo – No, we expected to win every game. Those of you that know me I haven’t had a season yet that I don’t expect to win every game. Unfortunately every year so far we haven’t been able to win every game. We have gotten beaten a couple of times and hey opponents just beat us but we move on to the next one. We just haven’t been able to put it all together.

It has been a fun year, but we aren’t done yet. We didn’t set a goal to be 11-0. Our goal is to win them all and be the best that we can be. If you lose one you say okay we can be 11-1 and that is what you shoot for. For us it is just a matter of each and every week trying to find a way to win that game that we are playing. We have to be better than that opponent and keep the momentum going.

I think we are right where I hoped we would be. I felt like we would be really good offensively. I thought we would be really good defensively. The key defensively was could we keep some of our key guys healthy. And not have to throw some guys out there and play some of these guys before they were truly ready. We have been very fortunate knock on wood. Hopefully we can continue to stay healthy.

Question – This time last year you were getting questioned about South Carolina’s recent winning streak in the series. Now the tables have turned as far as where the programs are headed. What are your thought seeing that over the last year?

Dabo – I don’t really have any thoughts other than you just keep working. Keep your head down and keep plugging. Focus on the things that you can control and don’t let one game define you. That is what we have done as a program. The teams we lost to at South Carolina were really good teams and a lot of people lost to. They had a nice run and I think sometimes those things are kind of cyclical.

We are just trying to be the best that we can be at Clemson. That’s a game where we hadn’t done very well the past few years so it was good last year to be able to get back on top but that was last year. It is all about this game now and these four quarters. Everybody will forget about last year real quick and last week real quick if you don’t play well this week. That is just our mentality that we have each and every week, not just playing South Carolina. We want to put our best foot forward for every game.

Question – Watson is right in the thick of things for the Heisman race. In some game early on he was pulled out in the interest of keeping him healthy. I am just curious. Obviously the priority is team first but does it ever even enter your mind the Heisman race and keeping him on the field to help him get some statistics?

Dabo – No, no we are just playing the game. I don’t know what else you can do statistically. Heck he was 24-35 for three touchdowns and three hundred and something yards. He is statistically as good as anybody out there. We are 11-0 and we have had the type of year and we are one of the only teams out there in the top 15 offense and defense. A big reason why is because of our quarterback. He is I think the best in the country. Sit down and look at the opponents that we have played and the consistency that he has played with and it has been pretty remarkable.

But no, we don’t think about any of that stuff. We just play the game.

Question – Talking to some of the players after the game it seems like some of the younger players have a different perspective on this particular streak. Have you noticed the juniors and seniors it is still a little bit raw because they lived through the backend of that winning streak?

Dabo – I don’t really know. We haven’t really talked about South Carolina to be honest with you. We will get the team in here tomorrow. All I know is those older guys they certainly understand that it was something that we needed to get corrected and get changed. That senior class last year was pretty special because they got us back on the right track. We want all the guys here to leave with winning records against their in-state rival and against all of their opponents.

You just have to prepare each and every week. We won last year because we had a great plan and we executed our plan and played with great effort and toughness. We took care of the ball and found a way to win the game. That is all we need to focus on.

It’s not anything about the past because that has nothing to do with this game. We have a lot of guys that haven’t been in this game. All of our freshmen are 1-0. Hopefully when they leave here they will still be on that side of things.