This comes in from TI correspondent Gavin Oliver:
How does it feel to win on defense, again, in a big game like this?
“Real proud of our guys. Their effort was incredible. Hats off to Notre Dame. What a great group of competitors they are. They’re very talented, and boy, they showed a lot of fight as well, but our guys matched the haymakers, and we made just a few more plays. We played real, real well for a good portion of the game and kind of hung on there at the end and made that play when we absolutely had to. Forced a turnover another time or two. This is a great opportunity for us to coach and teach and correct after a win because there’s plenty of that to do, but love our guys’ fight. Boy, they really battled with them. One for the ages right there.
“I wish it would have been a lot easier there in that fourth quarter, but heck of a play, and what a call, too, on his part. It worked the last time (on Kizer’s touchdown run), I know, but two-point play, they really hadn’t done a whole lot in the run game all night. I know they had some scrambles there, but to call that — man, Coach Kelly’s a great play-caller and a really great offensive mind, and we got lucky a few times there, too. They say “the luck of the Irish”; well, the luck of the paw because we had some luck there, too. They dropped some that hit the in the hands, but that’s part of the game, too. We slipped off a lot of tackles, too, that I don’t always know if we always do if a guy’s not real wet and all that, either. So, I’m not making excuses by any stretch, but you always have to have a little bit of that with things kind of going your way once in a while.”
Talk about Watkins’ season thus far, with tonight on top of his pick-six in the App State game that really opened things up for the team in that one.
“You’re happy for him. He’s capable of playing that well, and we’re going to need him to keep playing that well. He’s a big, strong guy that can be disruptive, obviously, and he was a huge factor tonight. That was a huge play, obviously — that was the play, and when we have to have a play, players make plays, and he did.”
There was talk of disrespect or not enough respect. Does this game do anything?
“Well, I don’t know, I don’t really get caught up. I just look at the game and what we have to do to win — matchups and staying focused on the things that matter. That stuff doesn’t matter. It was a big game. It was the next game. It is Notre Dame. They’re a very talented team. Our guys knew that we needed to play well to have a chance to win, and for a good part of that game, we played real well and made enough plays there at the end to win it. All that disrespect stuff, I don’t know about that. What Clemson is, established itself as a big-time program nationally. People respect Clemson. I don’t feel disrespect whatsoever. I know the product that we put out on the field, and proud of it.”
Were you surprised that Kelly went for two after the first touchdown?
“No. They wanted it to be a two-score game, and 10 points, obviously, so I wasn’t surprise then.”
At what point did control shift?
“I thought somewhere in that fourth quarter, where we missed some tackles and they were running the mesh and crossers, and we didn’t do a good job of coaching them up — just having zone eyes. Got out-leveraged a few different times, little bit late on a blitz, and they hit one crosser late where we were hitting the quarterback as he dumped it off on a little shallow. We didn’t do a good job with our leverage in man, the blitz took too long to get there, and he had just enough time. Great poise to see it under duress because we had it dialed up right. But somewhere in that fourth quarter, I just thought we were a little bit fatigued in our technique, and our lines kind of showed a little bit.”
There was a lot of talking heading into the game about the Alexander-Fuller matchup. What did you think of Mackensie’s performance?
“I thought Mackensie played really well. I thought he competed well. Fuller’s a great player — he had that one screen late. We thought them screens were going to be coming off the sideline, off the bus. We thought the screens would be happening, and they didn’t, and they hit one late on us that they about piped it. He’s strong, he’s a good player, a great competitor, but I thought Mackensie more than held his own.”
How about the way the defensive line battled on the line of scrimmage and limited Prosise and pressured Kizer?
“I thought they were a huge factor in the run game and shutting them down. Really, through three quarters, really pretty good. I thought they played well.”
What about Dodd and Lawson, specifically?
“I thought they were disruptive. They did a really good job, particularly in the run game. We need to finish some plays better and all that, but I thought they played well.”
Christian Wilkins, in the biggest game of his young career, seemed to have his biggest game personally, too.
“He played good. He loves to play. That’s what I love about him — he has a great attitude, a lot like Shaq. Loves to play, loves to compete, loves to work, and he’s not a great player yet, but he’s going to be real soon if he keeps that up.”
Health-wise, everybody in the secondary OK?
“Yeah. A bunch of guys were cramping up between covering kicks and playing all those snaps and playing man, and they were attacking down the field a lot with a lot of things, but yeah, think everybody’s OK. Just cramps.”
You didn’t think Dabo’s decision to let Ammon kick off would factor in to one of the game’s biggest plays, but what about him sticking his nose in there on the opening kick of the second half and forcing a fumble that led to a touchdown?
“That was awesome. You kidding me? That was a huge play in the game. What a great job. He was fearless. He could teach some of our other guys a thing or two. That was awesome.”
How does it feel to win on defense, again, in a big game like this?
“Real proud of our guys. Their effort was incredible. Hats off to Notre Dame. What a great group of competitors they are. They’re very talented, and boy, they showed a lot of fight as well, but our guys matched the haymakers, and we made just a few more plays. We played real, real well for a good portion of the game and kind of hung on there at the end and made that play when we absolutely had to. Forced a turnover another time or two. This is a great opportunity for us to coach and teach and correct after a win because there’s plenty of that to do, but love our guys’ fight. Boy, they really battled with them. One for the ages right there.
“I wish it would have been a lot easier there in that fourth quarter, but heck of a play, and what a call, too, on his part. It worked the last time (on Kizer’s touchdown run), I know, but two-point play, they really hadn’t done a whole lot in the run game all night. I know they had some scrambles there, but to call that — man, Coach Kelly’s a great play-caller and a really great offensive mind, and we got lucky a few times there, too. They say “the luck of the Irish”; well, the luck of the paw because we had some luck there, too. They dropped some that hit the in the hands, but that’s part of the game, too. We slipped off a lot of tackles, too, that I don’t always know if we always do if a guy’s not real wet and all that, either. So, I’m not making excuses by any stretch, but you always have to have a little bit of that with things kind of going your way once in a while.”
Talk about Watkins’ season thus far, with tonight on top of his pick-six in the App State game that really opened things up for the team in that one.
“You’re happy for him. He’s capable of playing that well, and we’re going to need him to keep playing that well. He’s a big, strong guy that can be disruptive, obviously, and he was a huge factor tonight. That was a huge play, obviously — that was the play, and when we have to have a play, players make plays, and he did.”
There was talk of disrespect or not enough respect. Does this game do anything?
“Well, I don’t know, I don’t really get caught up. I just look at the game and what we have to do to win — matchups and staying focused on the things that matter. That stuff doesn’t matter. It was a big game. It was the next game. It is Notre Dame. They’re a very talented team. Our guys knew that we needed to play well to have a chance to win, and for a good part of that game, we played real well and made enough plays there at the end to win it. All that disrespect stuff, I don’t know about that. What Clemson is, established itself as a big-time program nationally. People respect Clemson. I don’t feel disrespect whatsoever. I know the product that we put out on the field, and proud of it.”
Were you surprised that Kelly went for two after the first touchdown?
“No. They wanted it to be a two-score game, and 10 points, obviously, so I wasn’t surprise then.”
At what point did control shift?
“I thought somewhere in that fourth quarter, where we missed some tackles and they were running the mesh and crossers, and we didn’t do a good job of coaching them up — just having zone eyes. Got out-leveraged a few different times, little bit late on a blitz, and they hit one crosser late where we were hitting the quarterback as he dumped it off on a little shallow. We didn’t do a good job with our leverage in man, the blitz took too long to get there, and he had just enough time. Great poise to see it under duress because we had it dialed up right. But somewhere in that fourth quarter, I just thought we were a little bit fatigued in our technique, and our lines kind of showed a little bit.”
There was a lot of talking heading into the game about the Alexander-Fuller matchup. What did you think of Mackensie’s performance?
“I thought Mackensie played really well. I thought he competed well. Fuller’s a great player — he had that one screen late. We thought them screens were going to be coming off the sideline, off the bus. We thought the screens would be happening, and they didn’t, and they hit one late on us that they about piped it. He’s strong, he’s a good player, a great competitor, but I thought Mackensie more than held his own.”
How about the way the defensive line battled on the line of scrimmage and limited Prosise and pressured Kizer?
“I thought they were a huge factor in the run game and shutting them down. Really, through three quarters, really pretty good. I thought they played well.”
What about Dodd and Lawson, specifically?
“I thought they were disruptive. They did a really good job, particularly in the run game. We need to finish some plays better and all that, but I thought they played well.”
Christian Wilkins, in the biggest game of his young career, seemed to have his biggest game personally, too.
“He played good. He loves to play. That’s what I love about him — he has a great attitude, a lot like Shaq. Loves to play, loves to compete, loves to work, and he’s not a great player yet, but he’s going to be real soon if he keeps that up.”
Health-wise, everybody in the secondary OK?
“Yeah. A bunch of guys were cramping up between covering kicks and playing all those snaps and playing man, and they were attacking down the field a lot with a lot of things, but yeah, think everybody’s OK. Just cramps.”
You didn’t think Dabo’s decision to let Ammon kick off would factor in to one of the game’s biggest plays, but what about him sticking his nose in there on the opening kick of the second half and forcing a fumble that led to a touchdown?
“That was awesome. You kidding me? That was a huge play in the game. What a great job. He was fearless. He could teach some of our other guys a thing or two. That was awesome.”
