CLEMSON – The ninth ranked Clemson Tigers have reached their second bye week of the season, and it has come at a good time.

Defensive Tackle Tre Williams spoke with the media earlier in the week about what the rest of the season looks like for the Tigers as they head into November.

–While Clemson doesn’t have a game scheduled for Saturday. But it is not an off week for them. Williams said, “we look at every week as an opportunity to get better, regardless if we have a game or not. I feel like last bye week we had we handled it very well and we’re keeping the same mindset for this bye week.”

–In the first four games of the season, the defense allowed the opponent to rush for well over 100 yards per game. In the last three games, that has changed. The opponent has been held to under 100 yards. Williams said, “I feel like it’s just a mindset. Coach Swinney challenged us as a whole entire defense, and I feel like these last couple of weeks we’ve answered the bell.”

–Williams was asked the difference in the mentality for the team at this point this year compared to last year. He said, “we have more confidence, we’re a very confident team but the work hasn’t changed. I feel like the work we’ve been putting in hasn’t changed but the result has changed and now everybody is seeing it. We’ve been working in the dark for a long time.”

–The graduate spoke highly of fellow defensive player Peter Woods and his role in the offense’s jumbo package sets. “You saw what happened…he scared one guy out of the gap and pancaked the other, so I feel like we’ve got the right guy for the job.”