CLEMSON -- Sunday evening Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney again addressed members of the media, this time as part of his weekly teleconference where he took a closer look at his team's 31-20 win over North Carolina upon further review of the coaching staff's Sunday film grade.
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The following is an abbreviated transcript of Swinney's teleconference.
OPENING STATEMENTS: "I’m really proud of our team and super happy for our seniors. It was a very competitive game. Both teams battled really hard. We played with great effort but made plenty of mistakes, too. The good news is we overcame them. The takeaways were huge. Winning that turnover margin is huge for us. It was a really good team effort and in all three phases.
"Getting ready for the next one, a big one, the state championship ... we're diving into those guys right now (on film study). We'll see if we can keep our momentum going. Our guys have battled all year long."
Q: Everyone come out healthy yesterday?
SWINNEY: "Pretty good except for Beaux who will be day to day. We'll see how sore he is. Hopefully that will go away quick. He was probably the biggest one. Everyone else, I think we're in good shape."
Q: Were you surprised that Mack Brown tried the two-point conversion there?
SWINNEY: "I won't get into judging his decision-making. He's been doing this a lot longer than me. I'm just glad we won the game."
Q: South Carolina has won three straight. What has been the key to them getting some late-season momentum?
SWINNEY: "I'll be in a better spot to answer that on Tuesday after watching them on tape for three days. Like us, we have been at home. They have as well. That's a tough place to play. I don't really know much more than the fact that they've created some turnovers. They have some guys who are playing with some consistency for them. Their quarterback is a really good player. I have not studied them yet. Just diving into that this afternoon."
Q: You looked like you did the tight end by committee thing yesterday. How do you feel they held up after watching the film?
SWINNEY: "We got some of our heavy package stuff, which was just the way the game went situationally. Banks Pope got in there some. He's a tough, physical kid. Sapp got in there some. We didn't use Olsen as much. He's still developing the trust in the run game but is more of a factor in the passing game. We won the game, rushed for 250 yards or so. It wasn't perfect but they got the job done."
Q: Aidan has been great all season, as has your punt coverage. Do you coach them to try to catch the ball in the air?
SWINNEY: "The one last week, the punt was a little further. But yes, we definitely try to catch it in the air. Ronan is a freshman and he's learning. You also hope the ball is not going to kick forward there and it did and got by him. Field position is huge. We struggled early with field position but then we got control of it. Aidan had three 50-yard+ punts."
Q: Your thoughts on your offensive line yesterday?
SWINNEY: "They're battling. They're competing. It's a play here or there where maybe we stay on the double-team too long. Just some leakage on protection. But they played well. No sacks. And we got that run game going. We had some great, great, blocks. There were more pluses than minuses and that's always what you want to see. We had a couple of penalties and that was the biggest disappointment. We had a couple of technique and fundamental things that got us. All in all they did a heck of a job and our guys ran really hard behind them. They all battled. I think we played seven guys."
Q: The play before halftime, Cade wasn't supposed to run it there, but he looked like he was more confident running the football.
SWINNEY: "Yeah, no doubt about it. That was huge. They were playing aggressive coming off the edge. He did a good job with his decision-making and ran with good vision. He still looks like a baby deer running around out there. He'll continue to fill out and maybe add another 10 pounds or so. You'll see that part of his game improve and he has already improved greatly from where he was when the season started. I was really proud of him. He made some big plays. He showed good poise. He had a couple of gritty yards. Big day for him as well with his legs."
Q: Maye had some big scrambles yesterday. How will that help your defense going into next week?
SWINNEY: "They're not going to be real happy when we watch the tape. We missed tackles and we didn't handle our rush lanes very well. And that guy is an elite player. He has a ton of awareness. When he runs, he's hard to tackle. He's a big dude and he's crafty. It will definitely make us better. No one will be happy about the tape because we gave up too many big plays. Other times it was a gap and other times we just didn't make the tackle. We have to clean up some stuff for sure. He just made too many plays to extend. It’s definitely a game we can build off of."
Q: How about some of those quck-hitting runs with Hampton? Were those largely missed fits?
SWINNEY: "More missed tackles and missed fits. We had two guys in the same gap on one. We had a couple where he just broke the tackle. I mean he's a great player. He's really good. These guys have seen some good backs. I just did not think we were consistent enough. We did a good job in the red zone but we have to be more consistent with doing some of the little things. We have to be disciplined in doing our job. And we have to make open-field tackles. We've done a good job of that but we missed too many tackles yesterday."
Q: Curious, is Avieon Terrell more advanced than his brother at this stage?
SWINNEY: "Maybe just because of his brother. He has had such a great model to watch, a guy who is a first-round draft pick. He has been exposed to so much. And A.J. was elite when he got here. We knew he was special. He was always about his business. I would say Avieon has benefited from his brother and the exposure to the game and the specifics of his position. And he is a hard worker. He is a grinder. I saw him in camp and he was in the ninth grade and we put him up with the seniors and even then he was locking them all down. He was one of those few that we offered really early. I've known him since he was in about the sixth or seventh grade. I am really proud of him."
Q: After you had a chance to watch Nate Wiggins' strip of the fumble on film, what are your thoughts? Do you take that in the future and teach kids from that ... to never give up on a play?
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SWINNEY: "Oh sure. I'll be talking about that for the rest of my career. It was incredible. That kid can absolutely fly. There are a lot of people who are fast but there are others who are as fast as they need to be. And Mukuba's effort on the play was amazing as well. He dives out and just clips his heel and that little bit of a clip allowed Nate more time to get there. Nate was at a little more than 22 miles an hour, just smoking. It was one of the greatest plays I've seen. It was such a momentum play, too. And we've been on the other side of that this year, too, as y'all know. I've been on both sides of it. Boom, right afterward we go on an 80-yard touchdown drive. I think he was our second leading tackler behind Trotter. A lot of big plays from Nate. It's probably the best game of his career."
Q: You've coached a ton of these rivalry games. What about the importance of this game and also to be on the losing side of it for a whole year?
SWINNEY: "It's no fun. That's for sure. These games are huge. It's a fun week to be a part of these games. Me personally, part of 13 Alabama - Auburn games, those are special memories. You come up here and I'm going on my 21st Clemson - South Carolina game and I've got a lot of great memories and I've got some bad ones. It means a lot to a lot of people. It is a goal of its own. It's a season of its own regardless of your record. This one is unique and different. The preparation is the same. It's just a game that everyone will live with for the next year and you're going to hear about it all the time. It's great to win it and it stinks when you don't."
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