Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney held his weekly Sunday teleconference to review the win over Florida State and look ahead to Syracuse. Here is a transcript from this week’s teleconference.
Opening Statement
First off I just want to thank our fans one more time. What a fun night in the Valley. It was a great crowd. It was probably as loud as I have ever heard it. I really appreciate the great energy that they give us.
It was a fun game and one that I know our team will remember for a long time.
It was good to win that division. That was the goal that we set out at the beginning of the year to achieve. To be able to do it on November the 7th and clinch it is just a great credit to our team and out staff.
We are looking forward to going up to Syracuse this week and seeing if we can continue to keep the momentum going with our season.
A lot of good things in the game. It was a very hard fought, tough game on both sides. I really liked how our guys finished.
We didn’t get off to a good start obviously because they scored in sixty seconds but man we finished well. Defensively we went 59 minutes without them getting another touchdown.
It was a tale of two halves. They had a hard time running the football in the second half. On third down I thought we were dominate. I thought we did a much better job in the redzone holding them to field goals and then creating the interception. We stopped them on fourth and one and had the two turnovers. There were a lot of great effort plays. I am really proud of our guys even with the few big mistakes that we will get corrected and learn from.
Offensively we had 29 first downs to their 14. We ended up with 512 yards to their 361 and I love the fact that we were able to get the running game going. We made some huge plays but none more important than zero turnovers. That was a big positive for us, the no turnovers. In the redzone coming away with points every time we got down there. Something we did not do last year. Last year we had two trips inside the ten that we got no points off of. It cost us the game. This year we took advantage of our opportunities. I was proud of that. Big third downs, especially late in the game.
I am proud of Huegel. He made some big kicks for us.
Again, it was a great team win. When you step back and look at it you say Clemson has been 9-0 three times. It is a pretty special time for these guys. It is good to be in the driver’s seat and we just have to continue to stay focused. We have to continue to do what we do and get ready each week, execute the game plan and to play the game with all that we got.
I look forward to going to Syracuse. We started that today as coaches.
Injury Report
Injury wise we came through the game pretty good. We got some good news on Ray Ray and Crowder. Crowder it is just basically a turf toe. Not certain but we will reevaluate him again tomorrow. He is not going to have any surgery or anything like that.
The same thing we Ray Ray. He has a sprained knee, MCL or whatever. The same thing, no surgery. So we will just rehab both of those guys and get them back going as soon as possible.
We should have some other guys getting back with us. Trevion Thompson should be back and ready to go. Jabril Robinson I think is close to being ready to go as well.
Players of the Game
Offense – Jordan Leggett
Special Teams – Greg Huegel
Defense – BJ Goodson
Question – You are No. 1 in the AP poll now so all you have to do is get a few more coaches to be All In and it will be unanimous?
Dabo – (Laughing) We keep winning and maybe we will eventually get there. If we can keep it going. We are going to try as hard as we possibly can. I can tell you that.
Question – At the end of the third quarter you have a big video on strength and conditioning. How much has that been a plus for you, especially in the fourth quarter?
Dabo – Oh man it has been huge for the past seven years. That is how we are built. It is everything. Everything you do in your program is geared toward game day. And it is geared towards toughness, mentally and physically. It is geared towards winning in the fourth quarter. We have been a dominant fourth quarter team for several years now. You have to give credit to what happens in our offseason around here. That is one thing I would say about the game yesterday is I know one of the things I told our guys is this one is going to come down to the trenches in the fourth quarter and we have to be ready.
We got stronger as the game went. And it was awesome to see, especially to be able to finish it on both sides, the offensive line and defensive line when we had to have it in the fourth quarter.
Question – Are you satisfied now that you are getting respect across the board?
Dabo – No satisfaction other than I’m glad that we are having a great season. I am very happy about that. It is fun to see Clemson so highly thought of. We certainly would prefer that to being undefeated and being 20th in the country. I think the guys have earned where they are. Not that you are No. 1 but to be in the conversation. That is really all it means. We recognize that and heck we embrace it. We want to win them all. You can’t win twelve until you win ten. We have to put everything we can into this game. And then it is on to the next one. You keep fighting each and every week with all you have go and try to find ways to win. And that is what we are going to continue to do.
Question – At what point did you realize how mentally tough Huegel was?
Dabo – It was definitely in camp. Again this was a young man that we told we were going to bring him onto the team this spring. We weren’t sure if he would come into camp with the 105 or the 115. And then the situation with Ammon. We said he will get a chance to come in here and compete with the 105. He came in and just flat won the job. You have to understand this was a guy that hadn’t really been around these teammates. He didn’t know them well. We created a lot of competitive situations. Here is a guy that has to roll out there and kick it through the pipes He is just a redshirt freshmen so I am really proud of him. I think a lot of people may think it doesn’t take a lot of toughness to be a kicker but I do. It takes a lot of mental toughness to know that all eyes are on you, when a lot of people don’t know your name, and aren’t expecting you to be successful and just to be able to perform with the type of consistency that he did in camp. I was like this guy has something to him. He really has a confidence, poise and mental toughness that is hard to find. I am proud of him. He is a neat story.
Question – If Crowder is out for a while would it definitely be Maverick Morris in there and what did you see from Morris yesterday?
Dabo – Maverick did a great job. The first few plays he had to kind of settle in but once he did he played well. I am proud of big Mav. He is a really good player. I would have no problem with Falcinelli going in there. I would have no problem with Hearn. All of those guys are ready to go play. That is the way we are practicing right now but hopefully Crowder will not be out too long. We will just have to evaluate that daily.
Question – Where is Ryan Norton right now?
Dabo – He is the backup center. He had gotten stronger and he is ready to play.