Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney held his Sunday teleconference to review the win over Boston College, update injuries and look ahead to the game with NC State. A transcript of the teleconference follows:
Opening Statement
We were glad to get a little bit of rest even though we didn’t get in the bed until about 7 AM. It was a long trip coming back. I am really glad our players got a little time to recover last night and today. I am looking forward to getting back at it tomorrow with these guys.
It was definitely our best overall game. I am really proud of how the guys prepared on a short week. It was a dominant game. We started fast, 21 points in the first quarter and then 21 points in the fourth quarter. It was good to see us finish and put the opponent away. We won the turnover margin. We were the least penalized team. We dominated in big plays and those are things that we try to take a lot of pride in. We played a lot of people. Again just overall very pleased with the performance.
Defensively outside of just a couple of plays it was a dominant game. The goal line was a tremendous stand. Scott Pagano was incredibly destructive at the goal line. We had two turnovers and a pick six. We had eight tackles for loss and three sacks. We did a great job on third down.
Offensively it was probably our best game, seven touchdowns. Over 400 yards of offense. Very balanced…We really created some big plays in the play action game. It was another 100 plus yard game for Wayne which ties the record. Third down we were very efficient. We were 100 percent in the redzone. We had zero negative yards in the run game. We did have two sacks for minus 15. And the other thing was no offensive turnovers and that was a big emphasis for us obviously. So a lot of good things.
The same thing on special teams. Another really good kick return. The biggest thing on special teams was the fumble by Ray Ray. That is something we really need to work hard on. We need to be consistent there but overall it was a complete game on the road. We haven’t had many games up there that haven’t come down to the last play or last quarter up there.
I am looking forward to Homecoming week. It is always fun around here. We have a big challenge ahead. We have a 4-1 NC State team. Both of us are undefeated within our conference. Right now we are tied for first place. We want to try to break that tie and have it in our favor when it’s over on Saturday.
Players of the Game
Offense – Deshaun Watson
Defense – Van Smith
Injury Update
We came through it in pretty good shape. Anchrum was probably the most serious with a high ankle sprain. He is probably going to be out this week. We will see. We will know a little bit more tomorrow.
I think everybody else will be back in practice tomorrow. Mike we will probably hold him as well tomorrow. We will reevaluate him on Tuesday. Nothing real serious with any of those guys so it was a good, hard physical game.
Question – What do you expect with the injuries to Christian Wilkins and Ryan Carter?
They will be back in practice tomorrow.
Question: What was the diagnosis on Christian?
He just sprained his ankle. He was fine.
Question: You were pretty animated with Deon Cain at the end of the first half. Can you talk about that situation?
Yeah, we practice that. And not only do we practice that but we called timeout and said exactly what we were going to do. It was very disappointing right there. Again it’s one thing if you don’t have a timeout and you have a guy that is not really paying attention. It is another thing when you call timeout and go over specifically what you need to do. And then we don’t execute that. It’s just one play, but we are coaching to a standard and trying to be the best that we can be. Those are things in a tighter game could make a difference in wining and losing.
It was a teaching moment. We will teach from it, learn from it. He played a heck of a game.
Question: How many players did you play and how big is that?
We played a ton. We played 67. We only took 72. The only guys that didn’t play were Tucker Israel, Zerrick Cooper and Spiers. Zerrick and Spiers are guys we are trying to redshirt. Austin Spence didn’t get in and there is one other one. We played about everybody and continued to play well. It is good to see those guys get in there and perform like they did.
I am really pleased with how our guys are coming along and developing. Our schedule sets up well for us as far as we have been through some funky preparations the first half. We are going to get on a normal deal here the second half of the season starting this week.
Then we have an open date to get guys healed up. That kind of comes at a good time. I am glad all the short week stuff is behind us and we are relatively healthy and still undefeated.
Yeah, Austin Bryant was the other one that didn’t play.
Question: Is there a thought about a medical redshirt for Bryant now that we are six games in?
No, hell no, heck no. We need Austin Bryant. We have a long way to go. We are going to need him, no question.