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CLEMSON -- Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney addressed members of the media Monday evening during his weekly teleconference, this time to look back on his team's win over North Carolina while also looking ahead to additional practice time, a BYE and the Tigers' next opponent, Florida State (3-2, 2-1).
Clemson (5-0, 3-0) will host the Seminoles in Death Valley on October 12. Game time has not yet been determined. The Tigers are seeking their fifth consecutive win over the Seminoles.
ALSO SEE: The Story Of Dabo Swinney | The Story Of Dabo Swinney - Part 2 | Our Monday Insider | Clemson's verbal commitments | Clemson's junior commitments
The following is an edited, condensed version of Monday evening's transcript.
OPENING STATEMENTS: "Excited to get going again today. I want to reiterate that I'm really proud of our team. We had a heck of a ballgame, a tough, physical, game. I'm proud of our mental toughness and our will to win, especially considering that we didn't play our best game. The intangibles that it takes to win ... it's just good to see that in this team. We just hadn't had any adversity to this point. We had a young team and I felt like we'd see that with Texas A&M or Syracuse but we just hadn't had it until the other night. We got into a little bit of a fist fight and were able to outlast them. We're 5-0.
"A lot of positives, but we have to improve our attention to detail. It's on all of us to get better. We will grow from this one. The bad news is they outplayed us. We made a lot of mistakes that could have cost us the game. The good news is we still won. That's a great quality for a team to have. A lot of lessons, still. For sure. Our best football is in front of us.
"It's great for our quarterback, too. Trevor has had zero adversity since he came to Clemson. He didn't play a whole lot at Texas A&M. He came back and we won every game by 20+, so he hadn't had any adversity. And he made enough plays Saturday, but he made some mistakes, too. I learned a little bit about Trevor, too. His leadership was tremendous. He was trying to lead that defense, never pouting and just displayed so much mental toughness. Gutsy. I hadn't seen him with a game on the line in the fourth quarter since he came to Clemson.
"Offensively, we made some critical plays when we had to have them. Tee Higgins was outstanding. We were pretty good on third down. Just disappointed in the third-and-one, the fumble, critical penalties and poor situational awareness. We missed some wide open throws. I didn't think we protected well, especially at running back. We had 12 men on the field one time. Just missed opportunities. We had a receiver who was going to run for about 40-50 yards and fell down. We had too many miscommunication issues.
"Defensively, we did some things we hadn't done. We had a terrible start. They milked the clock. They made some big plays on us. We missed too many tackles. Our third quarter was tremendous. We had three sacks and nine tackles for loss. The fourth quarter was terrible. They had the ball for over 11 minutes. We didn't communicate well pre-snap defensively, either. Just a pretty sloppy game on both sides.
"Special teams was good. Will Spiers and Joe Ngata were our special teams players of the game. Isaiah Simmons was our defensive player of the game. Higgins was our offensive player of the game.
"The open date is coming at a good time. It's a chance for us to reset, get healthy and get a head start on Florida State, while also doing a lot of self scout on us. Everyday is critical. I'm really proud of this team, though, and our leadership. We're going to get back at it tonight and get a good start on Florida State.
"Health-wise, we're in good shape. Tanner Muse strained his hamstring. I think come (next) Monday we'll have everyone in practice."
Q: Did you have that accountability film session with your players?
SWINNEY: "Oh yeah. Absolutely. It was a normal Monday for us. The only change was that we had a power outage. We were able to get back to the meeting. It was great. We have a lot we have to improve on. We've had four pretty good games, but all of a sudden had some adversity. It's so much more fun to correct with a win than to lose the game. We have a lot of self-awareness on this team. We're not perfect coaches and we're not perfect as players. Accountability is important. We've always had that in our program. Today was a day of praise and loving them up. Most teams lose that game. I love the heart of our team. But then also you ask how can we get better. It's easy to get everyone's attention when they see the mistakes."
Q: Anything in particular regarding the amount of mental mistakes?
SWINNEY: "It's the most in awhile. We've had them in other games but those games weren't close. I don't remember a game where we had that many critical penalties. We didn't fit some things right defensively and squeeze properly. We saw some things happen that we don't normally do. We're a better team than North Carolina and the best team won but we did not play anywhere near to our ability.
"First of all, you have to give them credit. They fought their butts off, they had a good plan. As far as what they were trying to do, they were great. They made some great plays. I don't want to take anything away from them. I'm just focused on the things that we control - alignments, pre-snap issues, penalties, situational awareness ... things that can add up quickly, especially when they're occurring on third-and-1."
Q: What did you think of the offensive front?
SWINNEY: "They did a pretty good job for the most part. We had a couple of communication issues. We had some negative plays but averaged about four yards a carry. They were playing four down (linemen) but tried to take away some things over the middle. We had some really good things there. Look at some of our drives ... seven plays, nine plays, 10 plays and then come away with nothing. Just efficiency ... not good, not like we need to be and we lacked rhythm."
Q: Can you point to a specific moment where you learned something new from Trevor?
SWINNEY: "Yeah. Fourth quarter. Never seen him in the fourth quarter with the game on the line. It was down to the last second in the final minute or so. It was third and six and he had to make a play and he did it. It was awesome. He has a lot of things he can improve on. He just hung in there. That's what the great ones do.
"I know a lot of people think that he's some kind of robot or that we're kind of like video game people. We're not. We're real people. People make mistakes. People aren't perfect. You have to overcome some things sometimes. Just watching how he handled himself, how he engaged with the defense, his leadership ... it's just cool to see how he has grown. He has become a great leader. That throw he made to Tee and then the scramble throw he made to Tee was unbelievable. I was so encouraged to see his grit. I knew it was there, but I saw it there in the fourth quarter. It was awesome. Had they converted on that two-point conversion, he was ready to go win the game."
Q: Just curious about your assessment of the intermediate passing game.
SWINNEY: "There wasn't anything intermediate with these guys. They were taking that away. The throws were outside. We missed an opportunity on the slant, the ball got batted down. That was a poor protection call on us as coaches. We had Tee open on another play but our protection wasn't good at running back. We've been pretty good. And Trevor hasn't played in all those games. The Georgia Tech game ... we just ran the ball for 400 yards because that's what the game dictated.
"We can't just look at stats and make assumptions. Every game is a season of its own. That game those throws weren't over the middle because the safeties were down low. We had Chalk and No. 8 wide open for a touchdown and missed that throw. We hit Ross down the middle and again and those were big plays. One was a crossing route. They tried to play press man outside, which is why Tee had a big game. We had the right plays. We just didn't execute very well and we couldn't get into rhythm. We didn't make the layups. It was like a comedy of errors, to be honest with you. They also kept the ball."
Q: Was there a sense of urgency to get the big play on Saturday and did that lead to some inefficiency?
SWINNEY: "No. We were just trying to run our plays. We had poor fundamentals. We had good drives going. We had third and one twice and we didn't get either one of them. Amari just has to go get the first down on one. He was just trying to do too much right there. There are a lot of little things we can coach off of from this game. We just missed some plays that were there. Their style of play and how they milked the clock and us not playing as good a defense as we've been playing ... we didn't complement each other very well. Next thing you know, we're in a dogfight.
Q: California has now passed a law where players can take endorsement deals. Do you have any thoughts on that?
SWINNEY: "I have no thoughts. My thoughts are getting ready for Florida State. A lot of people a lot smarter than me can figure that stuff out. I don't know enough about it. I don't need to. It doesn't affect me. I'm focused on trying to get ready for FSU.
Q: Does this BYE come at a really good time for you now?
SWINNEY: "Yeah. It's been five games. It's hard to be perfect all the time. Four of them didn't bring any adversity. Not that we didn't have any mistakes. We did. We just didn't have any adversity. I hope that we can use that to create the sense of urgency that it takes. We have had great preparation. Our guys have been great. They've been awesome. Now, we don't have to play perfect to win. But we do need to play well.
"Our guys have been going since July. Our freshmen have been here since June. FSU has two weeks to get ready for us as well. You get beat up and banged up. That was a physical game the other night. We'll work hard tonight through Thursday and then we're giving everybody Friday, Saturday and Sunday to get reset. If we want to be in the ACC Championship again, we have to make every day count. We have a chance to win the division but we're a long way from that. We're 5-0. You can't be better than that. It's an opportunity for us to grow our team a little."
Q: Jordan Williams talked about Trevor stepping into the huddle with the defensive group before the two-point conversion. Can you elaborate on that?
SWINNEY: "I've been with Trevor for 20 games now and he hasn't had a game like that. It's not like we haven't played anybody. We've had conference title games and a national championship. Those moments weren't too big for him. He has answered all the questions. You know you'll eventually have a game where it will be tight. He didn't play his best game, but he dug down and responded. I knew he had all the things he needed. I just hadn't experienced it with him in that situation. It was cool to see him under fire a little bit, not that I want close games. He's a great leader. It's just so natural for him."
Q: With Travis, he has put the ball on the ground three times so far this season. What do you tell him at this point? How do you work through that?
SWINNEY: "Just focus on fundamentals. Got to give the opponent credit, too. He hasn't been a guy who has put it on the ground a lot. He might have had one in 15 games last year. We coach that all the time. He's not happy about it. That's for sure. You just go back to work and give him the ball. That's what we're going to do. He's a great player, but he's not perfect."
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