STOREWIDE FLASH SALE: Over 3,000 officially-licensed CLEMSON apparel/gear items ON SALE (some 30-65% OFF) at The Tiger Fan Shop HERE!

CLEMSON -- Tuesday morning Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney met with members of the media at his weekly news conference, this time to offer additional insight into his team's 34-28 win over Florida State, personnel, injuries, this week's practice and of course Saturday's noon opponent in Death Valley - No. 14-ranked Syracuse.

The following is an abbreviated transcript of Tuesday's presser.

OPENING STATEMENTS: "We've had 81 years in Death Valley and there hasn't been a matchup like this where both teams come in at least 6-0. These are two good football teams. Dino Babers has them going, man. He has an offense that can score, a scheme that creates challenges and they do a lot of different looks. They can divide you in half off the stretch. They play with tempo. It starts with their quarterback. He's a great kid, a great young man, a tough competitor. We have a lot of respect for him. He's as tough as they come. He loves to run the ball and he punishes people when he runs. He's fast. He's 6'4, 230 pounds and he can flat out run. He's more and more confident.

Become a subscriber at Tigerillustrated.com!

"Their team has gotten better and better. They have a lot of belief. They're physical up front and have every starter back in the offensive line. They're scoring 36 points a game. They're dangerous and explosive. This No. 34 is a true All-American. He is the best we have seen. He is a great player, their leading rusher and also their second-leading receiver. They always have a good group of receivers. They have playmakers. No. 19 has emerged as their go-to guy. Their offensive line is playing really good ball. You can tell they like it and have a great mentality.

"Defensively, they're all over the place. They pressure, blitz about 50-percent of the time. Two out of every four plays they bring it. They will challenge you. They have two great corners, no-doubt NFL guys. They're active at safety. They are a 3-man front with a star player roaming the middle. They're disruptive with their movement. We have to do a great job communicating, for sure. You don't get lucky and be undefeated at this point in the season."

Q: Have you noticed teams loading the box more against them?

SWINNEY: "We had six TFLs we missed last year and three sacks we missed. We couldn't get him (QB Garrett Shrader) on the ground. He's a problem. He's a big, strong, man. You can load the box and play tight coverage but if 34 breaks through there, it is a huge play. You have to mix it up. You have to be very sound with your gaps and contain and leverage the football. They ran around us twice last year. We didn't set the edge. You have to do that regardless of where it's coming from. If they're outside of you, you have problems. They get you running, then they cut back on you, too. We have to clean that up, especially with how poorly we just played that last week in Tallahassee."

Q: Your reaction when they signed Virginia's OC in the off-season?

SWINNEY: "He does a great job. They do as good a job as anybody using their personnel and creating opportunities. They're in attack mode. They attack you formationally and down the field. You have to be ready to make competitive plays and go down field. They're going to run their quarterback and use No. 34 in every way possible. They attack who you are and create opportunities. He's excellent. He did a great job at UVA. He's done a nice job of bringing something else to their program. We were fortunate to win the game against them last year. We had a lot of dropped balls on these guys last year. We gave up a couple of big plays."

Q: D.J. is up 10 points passing percentage-wise. What is it specifically about him and his accuracy this year?

Join Tigerillustrated.com subscribers on The West Zone message board!

SWINNEY: "Confidence. He's more confident in himself and the people around him. When you are confident, it leads to better production. When you don't have that, bad stuff happens. It's a product of all the hard work he has put in. He's mentally in a completely different place. His confidence is really high. He's had a lot of continuity up front. He had none of it last year. Even in this game last year we found out at breakfast that we were going to have to start Mason Trotter who had a broken hand. D.J. has worked his butt off. He's a really good player. He is who I saw as a freshman. That's the guy. Last year was just a tough year but it made you better."

Q: Any type of off-season regimen different for DJ? Anything mechanical he did this off-season?

SWINNEY: "He lost some weight, he wanted to be a better runner, he wanted to become a better leader and he wanted to do everything that he could to reset himself. He accepted the challenge of all the negativity and drama and prognosticators. Not many guys playing better football than that guy. He's a pro and he prepares like a pro. Some people expect him to be perfect. Show me a guy out there who is perfect. There ain't one. He's become inside out and that will continue to serve him well. Unbelievable focus."

Non-football-related & off topics forum

Q: Why do you think Florida State attacked your boundaries so much? And what specificailly do you clean up there?

SWINNEY: "We have to leverage the ball. We have to tackle better. We had 24 missed tackles. If you have 15 missed tackles, you win by two touchdowns. We have to trigger in the secondary better. They cut back on us. We did a great job on it in the second and third quarter and then had some lapses, which were disappointing. We have to execute the call better. Play the call better. Sometimes your guys try to do too much."

Q: Where would you say Bryan Bresee is physically now? And mentally?

SWINNEY: "He's 100-percent cleared. He's working his way back into full shape. He has missed a lot. He missed the La. Tech game, so much practice, the week of the Wake Forest game and he came back and played there some and then the next week he's out again. Now he's good and all of that is behind him. He's in normal practice weeks now. He's playing himself back into full shape. It won't take him long."

Q: Based on what you have seen, what has made Garrett Shrader more accurate this year?

SWINNEY: "The guys up front have helped. They have done a great job of protecting. They have done a nice job with their perimeter game, their screen game, the emergence of No. 19, too. I'm sure he worked his butt off in the off-season. It's a product of the work he has put in. He seems to have good chemistry with the guys he's throwing to. He's become more accurate with the deep ball. He's become more confident with the back-shoulder balls ... wheel routes, go-routes. It's maturity, experience, confidence."

Q: The ACC is usually mocked by college football fans for not being very strong. Is this the ACC you see and usually talk about ... the one with four ranked teams?

SWINNEY: "Anybody can beat anybody in this league. You better be ready to show up and play. There is all kinds of rhetoric out there all the time. Man, I'm just trying to beat Syracuse. There will be conversation about our league for life. It seems to go in cycles. I'm just focused on Clemson, honestly. We just need to make sure we are ready to play. I think our track record speaks for itself in and out of the conference."

Q: Do you feel that Tyler Davis is having his best year?

SWINNEY: "I don't know about lists and watch lists, but I assure you the coaches in this league who watch film of him know who he is. Those NFL scouts know who he is. He's a problem. He is unbelievably consistent, technically sound. Just relentless. There is a lot of value there. He's a really good player ... hard to block, excellent fundamentals. Great foot speed and a great pass-rusher. He is a true, complete player. He's one of the best people you can be around. I call him Baby Dex. That's who he reminds me of. He's a handful. Maybe someone will take him before the fifth round. They're crazy if they don't. I know this; wherever he goes, he'll be on that field."

Q: You said after the Furman game Myles Murphy was loafing. What's been the difference for him in recent weeks?

SWINNEY: "We put him on the sideline and he didn't like it. He likes to run out there first. It's not like he was terrible. He had two or three loafs on tape. You can't have that. Just a little bit of accountability. He took ownership of it. He has responded as great players do."

Q: Last year you talked about Beaux Collins being advanced for a freshman. Where do you see Antonio Williams at this point?

SWINNEY: "Yes. Absolutely. He's a highly-advanced, skilled, freshman. He's not a typical freshman. Great understanding of the game and very instinctive. He came from a great program. He has won a bunch. There are a lot of things he came in knowing and understanding. Excellent ball skills. He has great, explosive, speed. He's not even close to what he will be. We have to get him in the weight room and develop him more physically. He's a real weapon for us. He has made a lot of big plays in seven games."

Q: How would you say your faith has sustained you through the ups and downs of your career?

SWINNEY: "Faith is just kind of the foundation of my life. It allows me to have perspective. No matter what happens, whether it's good or bad, as a person of faith I know that God loves me and that I am his child. Through faith and through Christ, I know where I will spend eternity. That gives me peace. I think my faith keeps me anchored. We're all going to have storms and tribulations, but my faith has kept me anchored. I've had peace no matter what. It has allowed me to grow through adversity and develop into someone who is more Christ-like as I lead my life. It's given me hope. I believe Romans 8:28: All things work together for those who love the Lord. I absolutely believe that.

"Things happen in life on this earth that we will never understand and we have no way to understand. We can't lean on our own understanding. We have to keep our eyes on Christ. What I've experienced is peace no matter what. As I said a couple of years ago, talking about joy ... happiness is dependent on something for a lot of people. Joy is something is a constant when you know Christ. For me, whether things are great or just awful, I just keep my eyes on the Lord. We're suppose to praise him in the good and the bad and sometimes that's hard to do, but that's what I do. I count my blessings on the worst and best days. I just keep my eyes on him no matter what. I believe no matter what. That's always given me perspective and it has allowed me to take some of the biggest messes in my life and create a message from it.

"God never says oops. Peace doesn't come from a scoreboard for me or getting the answer that you want to hear. It comes from knowing who I am and where I will spend eternity. It all comes back to my relationship with Christ."

Become a subscriber at Tigerillustrated.com!

Q: How much more would you like to see Nate Wiggins develop physically?

SWINNEY: "He's got to get more serious about it ... nutrition, falling in love with the weight room. It's a maturity thing with him."

Q: How is Xavier Thomas after playing 32 snaps Saturday?

SWINNEY: "He was sore as you would expect. He's on track. He's healing as he goes. We have him on a plan. I think you'll see him get better and better as he goes."

DEALS on officially-licensed CLEMSON gear at THE TIGER FAN SHOP HERE!