CLEMSON -- Sunday evening Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney again addressed members of the media during his weekly teleconference, this time following his staff's Sunday film review of the Tigers' 24-20 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday.
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The following is an abbreviated transcript of Sunday's teleconference.
OPENING STATEMENTS: "Once again I’m just proud of our guys. A special win. Sometimes things go your way and it's not easy as it seems and then sometimes you feel like everything is going against you. I'm just proud of our team for their belief, their heart, their fight and resiliency to stay in there and find a way. Most teams probably lose that game, but our guys hung in there and overcame a lot of mistakes - a lot self-inflicted - a lot of tough breaks and with so many guys out.
"We finished up league play at 7-1 and undefeated on the road. The good news is we're 8-2 and we're not even close to playing our best game yet. We have so much that we can do better if we can just put it all together. Plenty of good, plenty of bad but again I'm proud of everyone for battling.
"The two guys we couldn't lose in the game, Elyjah and Sammy, we lost. That was a lot to overcome.
"Special teams, I thought that was our best game. The 51-yarder was a difference for us. The punt team, special teams, really the whole day. We did a great job all day.
"Defensively, we had several guys out, but I am starting to see the swagger and confidence. We had eight sacks, the most we have had since 2021. It was the most tackles for loss that we have had in 20 years. The goal line stand was huge, the two red zone stops were huge, I was proud of how Dee Crayton stepped up. Our guys just never lost faith and confidence and also created a couple of turnovers. We had too many penalties and I did not think we played well at corner.
"Offensively, a good first half and a horrible second half. The two-minute drive to finish was impressive. I'm proud of the offensive line. Blake went to left tackle for the first time since high school. Harris moved over to right guard. Parks wasn't perfect but hadn't played a snap at tackle in three years. Trent Howard really saved us. He stepped up. We only gave up two sacks. Plenty of good stuff, but overall just so many missed opportunities ... missed throws, drops and we weren't good on third down. We didn't do a good job as coaches in helping them enough. A lot of things we can correct and hopefully we'll get a few more hands on deck.
"I'm really proud of Cade. He had some plays he'd like to have back, but man, that kid's leadership and his heart ... he brings it every single week. And that's practice and game day. When you get that, you can do a lot of great things. We still have to put it all together. We are in position to have a great finish. Senior Day is coming up this week. We have some guys who have been around and have given a lot to Clemson. R.J. Mickens is one of them. He's playing his best football. Barrett Carter and Payton Page, they're moving on. Aidan Swanson, our punter, is moving on. Briningstool, Marcus Tate and Mafah are leaving and they've all been great contributors."
Q: Looking back on the run game struggles, you said you didn't do enough as coaches to put players in a position to have more opportunities. What was Pitt doing well to give you so many problems there?
SWINNEY: "I won't get into all the dissecting of that because we have two more games to play. I didn't think we did a great job as coaches. Our kids still competed their butts off. I'll just leave it at that."
Q: How is Mickens feeling today?
SWINNEY: "He was in here today. He's banged up. He'll be day to day. I'm proud of him. He had some great extra effort plays. I'm proud of the way he's playing ... really smart. He's where he is suppose to be. I think that was the most production points he has had. Hopefully he'll bounce back quick."
Q: You mentioned Dee Crayton's contribution. What did you see in particular on the film?
SWINNEY: "We talk about it all the time. You have to be ready. He was one of the key guys on the goal line stand. He gave up the touchdown and he was in a good spot but he kind of peeked in the backfield. He's been playing a lot of special teams. He's a redshirt freshman. We're counting on him and Jamal next year. We should be more of a veteran group next year. I hate that we lost Sammy but Dee did a lot of good things."
Q: Do you have a feel on the offensive line for how you will start the week and who will be available?
SWINNEY: "Yeah, we got a feel. It's crazy. Again, Sadler, Tate and Leigh and Elyjah out ... four really good players. We'll see where we're at tomorrow and figure it out. We've got a week to figure it out. I feel good about where Tristan and Marcus are as far as the progress they are making. Hopefully they'll keep trending in the right direction."
Q: Barrett looked exhausted late yesterday but it looked like he was leading and coaching from the sidelines when he was out.
SWINNEY: "He was unbelievable. He played 93 plays. He had two plays that he missed a gap on. He's just an unbelievable leader. He is the epitome of a Clemson guy. He loves the people here. He loves this program. He has great energy at practice. That's the most snaps he has ever played. It's not often we play that many plays on defense. We didn't have a lot of rotation with Wade and Sammy out. Dee played 58 plays, which was the most in his career. In the end, a lot of good will come from the experience yesterday."
Q: Klubnik gave plenty of credit to T.J. Moore for setting that block on the perimeter on the long run. What does that say about T.J.'s growth ... his play without the football?
SWINNEY: "That's good. We had the quarterback draw called. We had no timeouts, so they probably did not think we would be running the ball. We called it while they were mixing in two-man. It was the right call at the right time. We thought we could get into field goal range. T.J. covered his guy up and Cade is such a fast dude when he gets rolling.
"That was a special play in a special moment. It's the longest game-winning offensive touchdown in Clemson history inside of two minutes. It was pretty special. Those guys had a twist on up front and we hatted it up very well. Ryan Linthicum saw the twist and he knew who the back had. It was a great job by Harris and Trent. Cade did a nice job of selling the pass and just went forward and made a play. T.J. gave him a chance to make it one-on-one."
Q: How do you assess the development of your receivers through 10 games?
SWINNEY: "Ah, good. They're making a lot of progress. I think we have to give them more opportunities. The way they were playing us, I didn't think we gave some guys enough opportunities based on that kind of coverage. Antonio has gotten better and better every year. Stellato had a good year last year and has made some big plays this year. We have two true freshmen who are going to be special. Wesco had three good catches. We missed him on a slant. We had the right call and just missed the throw. T.J. needs to be more consistent. He has put a couple of balls on the ground. But again, they're two true freshmen. They'll continue to rise. Cole Turner had a nice catch in the game. We didn't give our guys enough opportunities and that's where we have to be better as coaches."
Q: Looking back at the pitch play out to Mafah where Pitt was, what went wrong there?
SWINNEY: "Really we just have to give them credit. We had been holding on to that play for a few weeks. We felt like we had the right call. The end didn't squeeze. The corner didn't find the ball until the ball was outside of him. With the tackle blocking down, their end has been a heavy squeeze guy. He didn't there and made a great play. Great recognition on their part."
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Q: Jeadyn Lukus didn't play as much in the second half while Ashton Hampton did. Was there an injury issue or was that a performance issue?
SWINNEY: "Performance. I felt like Ashton was playing better in the moment. And we had had a couple of missed tackles. Ashton was playing better."
Q: How did Sammy react to the targeting ejection? Did he understand it?
SWINNEY: "He was disappointed but what are you going to do? You have to just move on."
Q: Looking at the starting defense, how do you evaluate how they played from start to finish?
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SWINNEY: "We played too many snaps. We didn't help them enough on offense. We've seen a ton of growth in them the past two weeks. It's awesome to watch. Not perfect but you're starting to see the confidence and swagger that we expect on defense. We affected the quarterback and I saw improvement at defensive end. Peter Woods coming back was huge because he's a problem. He's disruptive.
"I don't know that they knew we were down in the game. That stop at the end, they didn't flinch. They created turnovers. A lot of good things. The biggest disappointment was penalties. I didn't think our corners played well. We had bad eyes on some plays and weren't where we were supposed to be. But again, a competitive group and they're getting better. I'm pleased with their fight, grit and will to win. They just never lost heart. That's not easy to do."
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