Clemson Tigers College Football Postgame Quote, 12/19/2020

It’s just, I mean, an amazing moment, to be able to share with our team in the locker room. That was fun. That was fun. You know championship football. You got to be at your best, and our guys were at your best, and or staff did an amazing job. You know, I don’t know that most people really can understand how hard it is to do what this team has done, and just the leadership and focus and the guts, and the commitment. For me it’s just special. And I just wanted to be a part of it, to watch it every day. To see them play was such unbelievable teamwork, to play smart, to play with such relentless passion to do everything we needed to do to win the game. Everything we didn’t do in South Bend, we did tonight. We dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball. You know we needed to, as I said coming in, we need to be more efficient, and we did that. I mean, we did an unbelievable job, and just really proud of these guys man. I mean, the to win 10 games anytime, and to do it 10 years in a row is an unbelievable accomplishment ‚Ķ But to do it in this year is almost miraculous. And I’m just really proud of our guys offensively. We ran for 219 yards ‚Äì 8.1 yards per carry ‚Äì 322 yards passing. And on the flip side, they only rushed for 44 yards. They had more rushing yards on the first play in South Bend and they had tonight. And that’s a credit to our defense, and how they matched up. They ran from one and a half yards per carry 44 total (rushing) yards and three-of-12 on third down ‚Ķ We knew we do a much better job in the first time (versus Notre Dame this season) with a much better job tonight. The guys took great pride in that preparation and we responded. After their miss field goal, I think we scored in three plays. After that, we had some stops on downs ‚Äì just a tremendous job and then we played complementary football

Just a great, great job by the entire team, you know really complementing each other, and a lot of individual things. I mean Travis (Etinne) had 10 carries for 124 yards. Trevor (Lawrence) was amazing. He threw for 300-plus and rushed for almost 100 yards …

So many good things and then defensively. You know, all those guys getting sacks and then getting pressure ‚Ķ (James) Skalski set the tone. You obviously saw the difference in him tonight. So it was a great, great win, something that we came here to do. And we got it done. So now for us, we’re gonna enjoy this tonight. It’s been a long year. It’s been an incredible amount of commitment, and just sacrifice by everybody to get to this point. We’re going to really, really enjoy this tonight and the bus drive home. We’ll look forward to having a little pizza party tomorrow, and see what’s next for the Tigers. This was special. Everything for us goes through the ACC Championship. You win this league, good things have a chance to happen for you, and we were able to get it done.

Hats off to Notre Dame, they’ve had an amazing year, an incredible year. But tonight was our night. You know, and I told our team, ‚ÄòYou saw them storm in the field (after Notre Dame’s win in South Bend) but there was no trophy handed out tonight ‚Ķ Let’s get back to work, we take care of our business, we’ll see them again.

You know, we’ve gotten better and better and better, and we’ve gotten healthier, healthier and healthier, and it was good to see our see us play our best game on the big stage.

You’ve listed all the reasons that Trevor Lawrence should be the Heisman Trophy winner. I thought well one of the plays that impressed me the most was that block that he made on third and seven deep in your own end that that sprung Travis for the first down. Does that epitomize who he is, the type of competitor he is? And also regarding that drive, you’ve done that a few other times this season, at least twice I think just before the halftime, gone the length to the field to get field goal or score. How much did those experiences help you on that drive?

It was just huge. I mean, huge. But that particular play from Trevor was awesome. I mean that’s just who he is. He made a lot of checks tonight and some great plays, We empower him, because he can handle it. And he made some great decisions. You know, they didn’t fool him he just didn’t hold it quite long enough on that one interception, But then he made some big time plays, and that’s just who he is. All the Heisman stuff and all that‚Ķ he just wants to win. The Heisman has almost become a stat award. It’s about who’s got the best stats. You can have all kinds of stats. He hasn’t played in a bunch of four quarters in his career, but he’s a winner, man. He’s 34-1.

And I know it’s not a career award and all that, but this guy’s been doing it every year since he’s been here. He’s been in two national championship games. And you know, it’s not a knock on anybody else out there, but it’s so obvious who the best player in the country is. And, you know, I hate to even have to campaign for him, but it’s like, sometimes I think people just take him for granted like it’s just easy what he does. And, you know, it’s unbelievable what he does. The fact that he can make you look easy, does it just further shows how special he is. Just an amazing, amazing performance for him tonight.

Does Notre Dame deserve to be in (the College Football Playoff, and why?

Absolutely Notre Dame deserves to be it. Because their 10-1. They played 11 games they lost to Clemson, all right? They stepped in the ring with Clemson twice and won one last one. And, you know, it obviously didn’t go their way tonight but that’s football. They played 11 games. And, you know, absolutely, they deserve to be in, no doubt about that. No way would I punish someone for playing more games. That’s what we seem to be doing ‚Äì we’re working to play less games and punish people for playing more. And I don’t get that. There’s no doubt in my mind Notre Dame should be in.

What kind of accomplishment, was it for anybody that played 11 games this year?

It’s incredible. And listen, these teams the sacrifice they made, the commitment. We had one kid positive in Tallahassee. We haven’t had anybody since. The amount of sacrifice and commitment that these players have had to make and into, and to have a chance to play week in and week out, and you’re not around anybody, you know. And not only that, we had 72 guys ‚Äì that’s the most in the history of our school ‚Äì 72 guys make a 3.0 or better this fall. So that’s why we win. These guys are young people of excellence, commitment. They sacrifice. they challenge each other. There’s accountability. We get better as we go, and it’s incredible. You know, hats off to our league. I’m really proud of our league, and how we navigated the season and, but especially these guys in the locker room and they fought to play.

And they fought to get here. And then they they laid it on the line for each other tonight. I mean, it’s just incredible. I mean incredible performance, dominant. And all you can do is just tip your hat to these young men.

I believe after Trevor came off the field for the first time you kind of embraced him and gave him a hug. What do you say to him in that moment?

That’s between me and Trevor. I told him I loved him and appreciate him. So that was kind of a cool moment opportunity to be able to send DJ in there and let him come out and kind of have a curtain call. If ever there’s a player that’s earned it, it’s him.

Xavier Thomas was out tonight. Was he injured or just unavailable?

Just unavailable.

Coach, the, the targeting call on Nolan, obviously, regrettable since he will now miss the first half of the (CFP) semifinal. How disappointing is that?

Tough, tough break. Just a bang-bang play, and the right call. They got the call right. It’s Unfortunate, and I hate it. I’ve said this a couple times, Nolan Turner is playing as good a football as any safety we’ve had since I’ve been at Clemson. It’s incredible how well he’s playing and how smart he is. He’s a quarterback back there. You put him and Skalski in there, and it’s amazing. You know how they talk with each other. But, you know, fortunately, through this crazy year of 2020, we’ve had to play a lot of guys, and developed a lot of depth. We’ve got Lanndon Zanders back. It’s going to be tough for us to not Nolan for a half but, you know, Joseph and Zanders, Jalen and all the rest of guys ‚Ķ Ray Tyler, they’ll step up and do a good job.

Would you like to see that rule changed or adjusted, like in baseball if you get suspended at the end of the regular season it doesn’t count for the playoffs? Would you like to see the NCAA reconsider how they institute that that carry over penalty?

Well, I think they’ve made some adjustments, and the intent of the rule was good. And we want to take the helmet-to-helmet contact of the game. I think, I think they’ve made some adjustments where at least guys aren’t having to do the walk of shame and things like that. I wish, I wish there was a way to measure intent. I think they’ve done a as good a job as they can with it right now. And they have reviews and all that type of stuff and for the most part, they’ve gotten it right. So, this is definitely, you know, for the sake of the game.

I know you’ve talked a lot about the depth of your guide but what about the versatility, a guy like Simpson a freshman, you’ve got corner blitzes tonight. Just, especially on defense, all the versatility that you guys can do so many different things?

That’s what we try to do. We try to not a lot of the same thing and play and try to be diverse and versatile in acting our scheme and our personnel groupings. And then, we’ve developed some young players throughout the season, which has allowed us to have some versatility in our packages. And Brent does as good a job as anybody out there and as the rest of our staff, utilizes our guys. So it’s been good to develop some good depth. We’ve kind of been forced into that we’ve started more guys on defense this year than any year since Brent’s been here, and it’s paid off for us.

In this unprecedented run of ACC championships, your team has stepped up every time. Have you done a thing from a coaching standpoint you and your staff for extra motivation, or is this just the culture of Clemson coming up to the forefront?

Well, I mean, we just do what we do. You know, we’ve got a great culture. We do the right things. We have good players, we try to be consistent in our recruiting evaluation and development. We start over every year. We don’t carry anything over, we don’t assume anything and go back to work. It’s like we’ll this tonight, but we’ll reset tomorrow, get locked in on what’s next and have fun doing it. So, every year is a new journey, a new challenge. And we’ve got a staff that really loves each other and cares about each other and enjoys working together, and that certainly resonates to them as well.

About your guys getting up for big games ‚Äì I’m curious what Brent is like before a game like, this and particularly when it’s a rematch against the team that had some success against his defense. He’s an intense guy, I think, day to day. Do you see anything different about him or in the way that he attacks a moment like this?

Oh, I’d be disappointed if I did, to be quite honest with you. If you dropped in in a helicopter, you know, and watch us practice all week, whatever that was, for the Citadel, and then dropped in and watched us practice this week, if you saw anything different, I’d be very disappointed. I think a key is our consistency. You know, 10 10-plus win seasons in a row is the secret sauce, if you will, is we prepare the same every day. We don’t change anything. Don’t change our demeanor or temperament. (No) ‚ÄòAll right, let’s really meet this week. Let’s meet extra, let’s practice ‚Ķ’ As a matter of fact, we practiced less this week than we did for The Citadel because that was earlier in the season. Periods were longer.

You know, this was our 20th week. So I think you got to be smart. You’ve got to manage the team the right way. But no, we don’t, we don’t do anything different. We just do what we do. Monday’s Monday, Tuesday’s Tuesday, Wednesday’s Wednesday. The only thing different this week is we had an open date so weren’t on the field quite as long or shortened things a little bit, because we had some prep time last week.

On fourth and one at the end of the first half when Travis broke the long touchdown run, I think Trevor spiked the ball on third down. Did he did he do that deliberately or did he think that you had the first down? Or did he spike it knowing that it was third down, and also just how much deliberation went into that play call?

Well, that we had a timeout. And what happened was we had miscommunication somebody said it was a first down. And, and so we had already talked about ‚Äòfirst down, we’ll go clock it,’ and so we heard first down. And, you know, we’re going, ‚Äòclock clock clock,’ and so they say line enough to clock it. And then we realized that it wasn’t a first down. So now we’re screwed up. And so, I had a decision to make there because I knew he was seriously clockiing on third down. I thought it was first down And so I could have used my timeout before, and clock in (but) let’s see if we can make the fourth-down play and keep my timeout, and so we just let it go. ut obviously we never clock the ball down there in that situation, but just a miscommunication.

(Trevor Lawrence) is 34 and one, and Clemson has never won a Heisman Trophy. Why is this guy not even get considered? And now all of a sudden everybody’s talking about everybody else-this guy’s the best player in the country isn’t he?

I think that you have to ask somebody else that. You know, Deshaun Watson didn’t win it, even though he was the best player a couple years there. I can’t answer that. I mean, I really, I hate to even have to campaign for him, if you will. It’s become a stat award, and it’s so media driven and for whatever reason, a lot of it and they say well we only missed two games, he’s played nine games. He’s played more games than most other people. He’s played nine games, and he’s unbelievable.

He doesn’t play in every fourth quarter. I mean we can leave him out there and just rack up stats and all that, to me it’s not about stats. It’s about who’s the best player and he’s the best player and that’s just him. There’s a lot of great players in college football, but there’s only one Trevor Lawrence, and he’s a generational player. He’s such a humble, young man, unbelievable work ethic. Unbelievable commitment. He graduated in three years. Incredible commitment to excellence, he sacrifices. I mean this kid fought to play football this year, in a year where everybody’s opting out. If anybody had a reason that could opt out it would be him and he’s fighting to go play football. I mean, it’s incredible. And again, if you can’t watch Trevor, I think he just does things so easily sometimes people just don’t appreciate it. So, I don’t know, I can’t, I can’t answer your question.

How special was the defensive line performance tonight interior and the ends and containing Ian Book?

Awesome, that’s what we needed to do. We weren’t gonna win the game if we didn’t play better in the trenches on both sides. You know these guys have been beat up since we played Notre Dame. You know, our offensive line’s terrible and our defensive line, this and that and they know that wasn’t the case. It was just great execution on their part tonight on both sides of the line. That guy’s a really good player man and he is a nightmare. To sack him six times, and really had a couple more opportunities, but to sack him six times, just relentless effort and pursuit. And, again, great preparation and execution.

So just a lot better job and then on the flipside, offensively, our ability to run the football and win the trenches with our offensive line was probably the most special part of the night. We protected well. I know Trevor took one late there, which was actually smart, glad he didn’t throw it. But we did a nice job up front on both sides.

Out of the six years you’ve won the ACC title, which one is the best? This one tonight or your first one that you won years ago.

Oh man. That’s like asking me which one of my three boys are my favorite. You know, I love all three of my sons, and all these teams. We have six in a row and then the ‚Äò11 team. So, all seven of them are special, and they’re like your children. They’re all special. They’re all unique and different challenges.

I will say this, I’ve never had a team deserve it more than this group. They deserve it. There’s no doubt about it. I mean, I’ve never had a team obviously that’s been challenged with the things that this team has had to face this year. I mean, it’s just been incredible. So, this team and they deserve it. And really happy for them but you know they’re all special to me. That 2011 team, that was the first one in 20 years for Clemson, that was a big deal. And, and then we don’t get a chance to win six in a row if it wasn’t for that ’15, ’16, ‚Äò17, ’18 and ’19 teams. So, it’s special to be part of.