Clemson defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro spoke to the media on Monday ahead of Saturday’s ACC Championship Game versus North Carolina. The redshirt junior got his first taste of what it feels like to lose a rivalry game last Saturday, but that loss to South Carolina is not the end of the road for the Tigers.

The 6-foot-4, 295-pounder believes that maybe the loss to South Carolina just makes the story of this season that much better.

“It was pretty disappointing, just for the seniors, losing our last game at home, but things don’t always go the way you want them to go,” he said. “It only makes the story better. We just have to keep striving, keep pushing and focus on what’s ahead.”

However, Orhorhoro shared that it’s sometimes harder for fans to flush a loss like the one on Saturday than for the actual players.

“I’d say it’s real hard on us too, but being that we have a game, we have to flush it quickly or else it’s going to linger, it’s going to carry on to the next,” he said. “We just have to flush it a lot faster than the fans. We let a lot of fans down, so we look forward to giving them smiles this Saturday.”

In terms of where the defense is looking to improve over the course of this week when looking ahead to the ACC Championship Game, Orhorhoro offered that they need to simply tighten up on the fundamentals, which is something he believes the team can fix ahead of the matchup against the Tar Heels.

“Just some miscommunication,” he said. “It’s stuff we can fix. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot. Easy layups we need to make and tighten up on, especially with the big game coming up. So, we’ll be in the film room today and watch it and tighten down.”