It’s safe to say Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was fired up during his postgame interview on ESPN following the Tigers’ 20-19 win at No. 20 Louisville on Friday night.

Swinney’s team improved to 5-5 on the season and 4-4 in ACC play with the win over the Cardinals (7-3, 4-3).

In his postgame interview on the field immediately following the game, ESPN sideline reporter Paul Carcaterra asked Swinney why he believes his squad is a special group, despite the Tigers’ record.  

“Because the tougher it’s gotten, the closer they’ve become, the stronger they’ve gotten and the more they’ve dug in — and that’s not normal,” Swinney said. “Not in today’s world. That’s not normal. Usually when you have some adversity, you divide. People are looking for the sideline or the training room. But not these Tigers. Not these seniors. That’s the freaking heart of a champion right there.”

“The record don’t define you,” Swinney continued. “How you respond is what defines you — in everything. In life, in football and everything. Our record ain’t what we want it to be, but we’ve got a helluva great group of young people right there that just fought their butts off, gave every ounce of everything they had.”

Swinney then dropped the mic at the end of the interview, so to speak.

“A lot of people have quit on them. There ain’t no quit in that bunch, and there ain’t no quit in me. Go Tigers!” Swinney said passionately as he jogged away.

With a win over Furman on Saturday, Nov. 22 (4:30 p.m., The CW), Clemson will become bowl eligible and keep its bowl-eligibility streak alive. Coming into this season, Clemson had been bowl eligible for 26 consecutive seasons dating to 1999 – tied for the third-longest streak in the nation.

Check out Swinney’s postgame interview below: