****** From today: Dabo Swinney, Tony Elliott, Jeff Scott, Brent Venables

[Cris_Ard]

Dabo Swinney, Tony Elliott, Jeff Scott and Brent Venables:

Transcript release (unedited) from College Press Box ...

DABO

Did you get the same rush when you walked out –

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, I don't even think I remember last year. Yeah, this is great. This is awesome. Did we have all this last year? I can't remember. We did? I don't remember it. But it was great to see a bunch of Tiger fans in the stands, and it's exciting.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: That couldn't be further from the truth. Everything you just said is not even close to reality. We've never had a goal of winning a National Championship on our board. Our goal is to win the opener. Our goal is to win the division, win the state championship, win the ACC and win the closer. That's our goals. If we can hit those, we've always said, if we hit all five, we've got a chance to win it all. Here we are. We're not driven by that. We're driven by being the very best we can be. To say that every team that's played is a failure that's not one of these two, that's so far from reality. There's a lot of teams that ended their season with a win that have built great momentum going into next year. There's a lot that goes into getting here. You've got to stay healthy. God, you could have had a big injury to a great player and now maybe you lose two or three games and you're not here, but maybe the guys played their hearts out. That doesn't mean they're failures. Success is about being the best and being the very best you can be. We knew we had a chance to be a good team, but we lost seven, eight guys to the NFL on defense, and we had a lot to replace. We had a lot of work to do.

But the guys were very driven toward that commitment of being the best that we could be, and I think they knew if we took care of business we'd have an opportunity, but you don't get here unless you have a great spring, have a great summer, do the right things, be committed, get off to a good start. You've got to win in September. You've got to win in October. You've got to win in November. It all builds to this point, and that's really been our focus, just a daily focus. Every week was the biggest game of the year, every week, and just approaching it that way, and it takes a buy-in from your team to achieve that, and then we were fortunate.

We stayed relatively healthy all year, and won some close games, and so you know, we're thankful to have the opportunity.

But if I wasn't sitting here right now, I would not feel like that our team was a bunch of failures.

What makes Jonathan Allen so good?

DABO SWINNEY: What makes him so good? He's big, strong, fast, well-coached, got heavy hands. He's got violent hands, man. Those guys disrupt the ball as good as anybody we've played. He's just a very knowledgeable player. He's been there, and if you stay – they've got great coaches. And then his drive is – obviously the young man has put in a tremendous amount of work in preparing week in and week out, studying the opponent, studying the lineman that he's going to go against, and then I think they do a good job of moving him around. He doesn't just line up in one spot. He's a five technique, a nine technique, a three technique. He's all over the place, and does a great job everywhere.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Well, I'm glad we're here because that's the only thing that we can control. We don't control the other side. But at the end of the day, to me this is the way it should be. We're playing – they're the best, and I mean, there's just – nobody can argue that. What they've done is unbelievable. I mean, just unbelievable, the run that they've had.

You know, this is an opportunity. I mean, you want to be the best, and we're getting a chance to play the best. We find a way to win this game, we'll be just that, because you knocked off the champ. That's just the way it is. They've got the swag, they've got the belt, and if we want that, we've got to beat them. Simple as that.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: His consistency. I mean, I know how hard it is, and just year in and year out, and obviously Alabama has an unbelievable foundation of tradition and championships and all that, and they've had the No. 1 recruiting class every year probably since it's been there, but you've still got to develop those guys. You've still got to coach them. You've still got to create a buy-in week in and week out. I spent 13 years there, so I understand the expectations there. I understand that when Alabama rolls out on the field, man, every week, they're going to get everybody's best, and that's kind of where we are as a program now, as well, as far as how people view us and the type of effort and preparation that we get from every opponent.

So to do it like he's done it year in and year out and to win the ultimate prize, I guess four times already, is just – it's incredible. It's incredible.

Even the same thing, they lost a ton of guys last year, and here they are, got a freshman quarterback. It just doesn't seem to matter. They have a very good system in place that they believe in, and they recruit to that and develop their players to that.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: They're very different, very different people. I know them both, obviously, but very different guys. But I think probably the biggest parallel is what you said, just defense. I spent seven years with Coach Stallings, and we were efficient on offense. It was a different era, different time. If we threw it 10 times, we were celebrating on the sideline like holy cow, we're the air-raid now, throwing 10 passes. But they're built differently. He's doing it differently offensively now with their style of play. I think he's made some adjustments there to where we are in college football.

But at his core, it's still all about defense, and that's certainly where it was with Coach Stallings. To be honest with you, that's where it's always been with me. I'm a – I've been an offensive guy by trade my whole life, and that's certainly where I spend the majority of my time, but I know, because that's what I cut my teeth on, you've got to – I believe in having a very well-balanced team, and I think you win championships with team, not just defense.

But I know that if you're good up front, you're good in that front seven, you've got a chance to win each and every week, so that's kind of always been a philosophy of ours.

Talk about Dan Brooks and what he's done and his background and reputation.

DABO SWINNEY: Well, Dan got the AFCA Coach of the Year this year, Assistant Coach of the Year. Brent Venables got the assistant Broyles Award, Assistant Coach of the Year, so I've got an unbelievable staff over there on defense led by Brent. Marion Hobby, who's a Birmingham boy, he's from Shades Valley. He's the defensive ends coach, and that's one of the reasons I have two D-line coaches, because I've always put such a great emphasis on that position. I think it's too much for one guy, the details, the techniques, the amount of information that you have to prepare for. It's not like everybody is running up and lining up in I-right and I-left anymore. There's so much teaching that has to go on at D-end and D-tackle, and Dan and Marion have just done an unbelievable job, and their track record speaks for itself.

Big V this year, Vic never played a snap of D-line ever until his junior year. He was a running back, and this kid just made first-team All Pro and led the led the NFL in sacks. And that's a credit to the development he got with Marion while he was at Clemson. He was the eighth pick in the draft. Kevin Dodd was a prep school guy that nobody recruited, was a second rounder last year, and then you look at – we've got lots of guys like that, Shaq Lawson, Marion, and then you look at Dan Brooks and you've got guys like Grady Jarrett, who we beat Buffalo to recruit, who's starting and having a heck of a year for the Falcons, starting D-tackle, second-year player. You look all over the league and you look at the guys that have been produced. You look what he's done with Dexter Lawrence this year, true freshman, coaching those guys up.

They're just great people. We have a great chemistry with our defensive staff, but it all starts up front. There's no doubt about it. And the teaching, the attention to details, the toughness that we've developed at that position has given us a chance to be a winner.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: He's a lot better. He's bigger, stronger, smarter, more experienced, even better leader. He's a graduate, so he's better in a lot of those ways.

How is this team better from last year?

DABO SWINNEY: I think we're better than we we're last year. We were a really good team. I don't think we finished well last year. We won, but we were a team on fumes I felt like toward the end of the season. We were finding ways to win, and there's a lot to be said for that, but we were a tired football team going into that ACC Championship Game, and defensively we were very top-heavy. Our first group was very, very good, but everybody behind him was freshmen, and so we just didn't have a lot of competitive depth, you know, which affects your practice, your meetings, everything. We've got more guys defensively that are functional, more guys that can go play, and it's been that way all year. We're a healthier team.

Last year Shaq Lawson didn't practice all week for this game, Mackensie didn't practice all week. They both tried to play, Mackensie didn't last very long. We're definitely healthier. We're deeper. We're more experienced, and then offensively we're better at running back. We're better at receiver.

Last year we had Ray-Ray was a freshman, Trevion Thompson was a freshman, Renfrow was a freshman, Deon Cain was a freshman, didn't get to play in this game, Mike Williams was sitting on the sideline, didn't get to play in this game. We're just better prepared, I think, to hopefully play our best four quarters Monday night.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: The best advice he gave me was what I learned in the seven years. I can't really say one thing. The best advice I got from him I got in seven years of working for him and playing for him and watching how he handled things. So how he managed the staff, how he managed the practice schedules, how he handled the team, you know, things like that. The way he would deliver some of his messages and things like that, those are things that I didn't even know. You don't know what you don't know until it's over and it's gone.

I always tell people, I learned a lot more from Coach Stallings after he was gone because I didn't know anything different. But you know, he's been to Clemson several times, and I think the biggest thing is just be who I am, just continue to believe the things that I believe in. You know, he's always said, hey, you need a great defense. He's always told me that. You're going to have to be good on defense; now you know that.

There's a lot of those moments.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: It would be kind of the cherry on top. I mean, we're going to let it all hang out Monday night, but if we don't come out on top, it won't be from an incredible effort and it won't be from lack of great preparation and want-to. Nothing will change their legacy with me, so I mean, these guys, what they – they've won 48 games in four years. They've done everything multiple times. I mean, divisions, ACCs, big bowl win, they've done it all. This is the only thing they haven't done. It would just kind of probably take them into the legendary stratosphere, I guess, because sooner or later we're going to get it done, hopefully it's Monday night, and once you do it once, you can do it again, and that's kind of been the case with us for the last eight years.

We hadn't won a division ever. We got it done one time in '09. Now we've won it five times. We hadn't won the ACC in 20 years. We got it done in '11, now we've won it three times. We hadn't won 10 games since '91, now we've done it six times. So it just takes somebody to kind of take that step, and these guys have the heart and the guts to do it, but we've got to earn it and do it on the field against a team that's every bit as good and wants it as bad as you do.

It would be a great moment, a great phenomenal finish for them, and I'd love to see it. They deserve it.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: I addressed it with the team. It's not what we teach here. It was disappointing to hear his remarks, and we addressed it and we've moved on to Alabama.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: That's between me and the team. It's not what we do, it's not what we're about. He was trying to be funny, and his remarks were inappropriate.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Ben is a bull in a China shop, and he answered it like a bull in a China shop. It's unacceptable, and he apologized to his teammates and to me. He knows who we are. That's not what we're about. We don't teach that kind of stuff. We play the game with great passion and will to win, but it was inappropriate. It's just not what we do.

(No microphone.) How do you make that adjustment?

DABO SWINNEY: Well, I mean, you study the opponent. Everybody is different. I mean, you go into a season, you have a library of who you are and what you do, what you can do, but it doesn't all apply week to week. You have to prepare for the opponent and who they are and what they do. Some things you are going to carry one week. Some things you've not the next week. It's all about your game planning versus the opponent, and then you get into the game, and sometimes they're going to have tweaks, so then it's about adjustments – but there's a lot we can do, but it's about what you can practice, so we try to focus on that. There's a lot we can execute, but the main thing is let's make decisions on the things that are going to give us the best chance to be successful.

That's really our job is to – the game is about the players. Us coaches get way too much credit. It's about the players. Our job is to put them in position to be successful and have a chance to win. That's what we work hard to do. I think that our guys, we've got a good plan, but as far as – we're going to – we are who we are. We're not going to – I don't think we're going to shock anybody with what we do, and neither are they. We'll do what we do, they're going to do what they do, and who can do it better on Monday night?

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Preparation throughout the week, confidence being built throughout the year, and how he's worked to get himself ready for those moments. I think that's the biggest thing is he's a fourth-year junior now that's just grown up and gotten more and more confident, and as he's gotten more opportunity, he's played well. Those are moments you dream about as a young player and being ready for it. I'm really proud of him. I think he's – we're certainly not here without Marcus Edmond and the plays he made.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: I'm really happy for Mike. You know, I always tell people that God never says oops, and it was disappointing for him last year to have to sit and watch, but he's a better player right now, because he would have left last year. He would have been a first-rounder last year. But it wasn't God's timing for him. He had to sit and watch, and I think he's a lot better player than he would have been this time last year, number one, and he appreciates – he has a deeper level of appreciation for his opportunity to play, for the privilege to play. He has an appreciation of being healthy. You know, oftentimes we take that for granted, the fact that we could all walk in here today. I've never seen a guy so happy to go and run and dive for a pass and roll on the ground and get into mat drills and things like that. So I just think he's been incredibly driven and focused and hungry all year long because it was tough for him to not play, but then to see the team have the type of year that we had and all the way to the National Championship and him not get a chance to play and be a part of it, that was tough, because you don't know if that opportunity will ever come back. So to have a chance to get back, I think that – I'm very happy for him that he gets to play in this game and be a part of this moment, and hopefully the confetti will rain down on him when it's over.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Well, it kind of felt like WWE walking in here. It was like Saturday Night Raw, right? Or is it Friday Night Raw? Which is it? It's kind of neat coming into this setting, and it is. These are two great – these are the two best teams, and to be honest with you, I don't think there's another team out there that's capable of beating Alabama. I think we're probably the only team that has a chance.

You know, that's – and we do, we've got a solid chance. But we've got to go toe to toe. Whoever is Ali, whoever is Frazier, it's two great guys battling it out. That's the way it is, and I love that. It's never been easy. My entire life, nothing has been easy, and this is the way it ought to be. If we're going to get it done, then we ought to have to play and beat a team like Alabama.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, I actually have a picture of it on my phone. We went to – you know, he's not all soft and cuddly, as y'all know, and he was great after the game. He really was. He was really good, and then I actually saw him like a week or so later, and we were at an airport together. He was very gracious, very complimentary. He knew. I mean, it was a game that was – could have gone either way on a few plays. But we were down here not too long – when is St. Patrick's day, March 17th? So we have a mutual friend, the Wises, and they were going to have a little dinner cruise, and we happened to be down here for spring break at the same time, and so they invited us to come on a dinner cruise, and we both had on our nice green shirts.

I showed up, and right out of the gate when we got on the boat, he was there, and I said, all right, let's get the elephant out of the room right now because I don't like owing anybody. I got him a nice dinner certificate to the Temptations, which is our favorite restaurant at the place we vacation, but I did write on there, I wrote on there, "See you in Tampa next year."

It's crazy. Here we are, both back in the same spot, and again, incredible respect for what he's done. Obviously great respect for University of Alabama, and look forward to competing with him again, and hopefully I can come out on the other side this time.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: I just think you can expect two teams to battle it out. You know, we've got to find a way to not let them score anywhere but on offense. I think that's the biggest challenge going in is don't let them score on special teams and defense because that's been an incredible recipe for them this year.

But last year, I mean, we all thought it was going to be 6-3 going into the game. I have no idea. I just want to have one more point than they do when it's all said and done.

What's it say about Alabama that they have a backup offensive coordinator like Steve Sarkisian?

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, I don't have that (laughing). I've got – I don't quite have those pedigrees on the sideline. We've got some good guys and hard workers, but I think they're very fortunate. It's great for them. I mean, they've got Locksley, they've got Napier. Napier is a great football coach. He's as good an offensive coach as they've probably got. They had Kiffin and Billy and Locksley and Sarkisian. I mean, they're incredibly well prepared every week. They do a great job of creating advantageous situations every single week. They take what they do, they apply it to the opponent, and they just create mismatches, they create edges, they do – they're very, very smart, very well-coached.

I mean, it's a very seamless transition for them. I mean, it's not like they're going to run a different offense. You know, maybe he calls a couple more screens than the other guy would have called. I have no idea. But it's all going to be within what they've done for 14 games.

Do you ever think about how far you've come? You said nothing has ever come easy?

DABO SWINNEY: What did I learn cleaning gutters? Man, I'm the best gutter cleaner out there. I started cleaning gutters when I was 14, me and Les Daniels, my buddy. We couldn't drive at the time so we'd carry a ladder and a blower and a rake, knock on people's doors, over – all the big houses were in a place called River Chase and we'd just knock on people's doors and clean their gutters and got real good at it. I was still cleaning gutters. In fact, the week before I got – a couple weeks before I got hired by Coach Stallings full-time, because we didn't get to go to a bowl in '95 so I was home all Christmas and I had just finished my MBA and I was cleaning gutters. It's just what I needed to do. It was a great way to go make some money. You know, it was good.

And then after all – several years I didn't have to knock on many doors anymore because people just expected me to show up, and I did. And then eventually whoever I could get to go with me, I would go, and then eventually my older brother and I would do it together. It was a lot of – it was good times, man, a lot of fun. I still, even now to this day, I ride around and look at people's gutters, man, I should go knock on their door and clean it up.

(No microphone.).

DABO SWINNEY: You mentioned Ali-Frazier (Inaudible.)

DABO SWINNEY: I have no idea. We're just going to battle it out and see what happens. This is just Clemson-Alabama. We're Clemson.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Well, we're 27-2 in the last 29 games, and they're 28-1. Why would I not be confident we can get it done? We've had incredible consistency, great preparation. I've got probably the biggest thing is the leadership on our team, the incredible commitment that I've seen day in and day out from our young people.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Well, I think just the experience. I mean, they know they're good enough. I think they know that. They don't think that, they know that they're good enough. And I think that they understand how critical one play is. You know, unless you have some type of craziness, it's usually three or four plays in games like this. Every play is critical.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, there's a lot of irony. There's a lot of irony. It's crazy. You know, we were a huge underdog in that game, and Alabama hadn't won – it seemed like – it's been 35 years for us, and it seemed like that for Alabama people. It was '92, but they hadn't won one since '79, which was forever. It was the 100th year, it was the centennial season. We played in the first SEC Championship Game. Everybody is like, dang, Miami is just sitting back at the house, and we've got to go play Florida, and if we don't win, we're probably not in that game. So we had to win that game.

Even with that, we were just a heavy underdog. Some of you guys may remember, it was probably 12 points or more going into that game, but we had just a resolve. We had an incredible chemistry. We had great leadership on the team. We had a selflessness, and we just had this drive to get it done. We all knew – I was a senior. We all knew that that moment right there would be something that would bond us forever, and that '92 team, again, just because – it had been so long to get Alabama back on top, was pretty special to be a part of, and to do it against Miami in the Sugar Bowl who had beaten us a couple years earlier in the Sugar Bowl, Coach Curry's last year, was a great moment and we dominated the game. They had the Heisman. They had all the swag and all that stuff and we got it done, and so it was an awesome moment. It was great to see Coach Stallings have that moment, and we came close a couple more times. We were 12-1 in '94, and had a chance there. And that year, as well, lost by one point to the Gators in the SEC Championship.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, yeah. Last year I watched that No. 88 run up and down the field on us, and that was my number at Alabama, and then I come into this game with 88 wins. Maybe we can come out on the other side this year. Maybe the karma will be on our side.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah. I mean, it's been an awesome journey. I wouldn't change anything. I'm 47 now, and still feel like I'm 17, 27 sometimes. Sometimes I feel like I'm 67. It just depends on what's going on and what the day is. It's been a great journey. To grow up in Alabama, I lived there for 33 years. That's the only place I had ever lived. And to grow up and dreaming of going to Alabama and playing there, never really dreamed of coaching until I finished playing, and to then have an opportunity to coach there for eight years, and then to come to a place like Clemson where there's been incredible Alabama ties, from Frank Howard, Hootie Ingram, Charlie Pell, Danny Ford, Bill Oliver, I can go on and on and on. It's just crazy. It was a great fit for me. It was a great time for me. When we moved to Clemson, I was 33, had two little ones and one on the way and had never – I mean, I might as well have been going to Michigan. I had no idea what to expect, and it's just been an incredible 14 years for me in raising my family and helping grow a program.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: We didn't cover him. We didn't cover him. We left him wide open twice, nobody around him, and then on the third big play he had, we didn't tackle him. We had him hemmed up in the backfield for a loss, don't make the tackle, and he's a great player. We've got to do a better job.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Oh, man. There's a lot of decisions that are made. Obviously I'm incredibly involved offensively, always have been. But I try to help those guys on defense as much as I can from just managing the game, things that I see, you know, I'm very involved in the special teams. You know, it's just making the right decisions. I mean, the games are over. I always feel like I played because you literally play every snap, and just managing the players, the coaches, the encouragement, making the right adjustments, making the right suggestions, the critical decisions at critical times.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: You know, it's an emotional game. I mean, there's a lot of emotion, but I don't think you can get emotional. I think there's a difference. I think there's emotion, passion, all those things are part of it, but to me, this is more emotional to me. When we get on the sideline, that's just kind of – that's just the norm. You know, I don't know how to explain that other than it's just you're so in the moment, you don't even really think about all the other stuff. You're just locked into the moment. I get more emotional watching a game than I do in the middle of our game.

I'm just grinding every play, every single play I'm grinding to find a way to get it done.

(Inaudible.) What do you remember about that game?

DABO SWINNEY: I remember eight drops, big ones, wide-open ones, and I remember turnovers. We started catching it, and we started doing a better job taking care of it, but we played hard, and I remember they were a hard-nosed team with a good quarterback and got an NFL running back and a good team. Went on to have a really good season. But I was very disappointed with how we threw and caught the ball that day. It was really bad. We had never had eight drops in a game. We had four in the Auburn game, so we had 12 drops in two games, and four touchdowns. We had three touchdown drops in Auburn and we dropped another touchdown against Troy, so we were in a little bit of a funk there those first two games throwing and catching.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: We've played really hard all year. The guys have been incredibly committed all year. Nothing has changed really from that all year long. We went through a little spell there where we were getting some crazy turnovers, and the close games that we had, we had a lot of turnovers, and we made five against Louisville. Five. And they had a hundred – the Heisman had 103 snaps, and we had 60, and we still won the game – with five turnovers. That's not a good formula. And then we had four against NC State, three trips inside the five, we get no points. Next thing you know you're fighting for your life, and it wasn't a lack of focus, a lack of effort. Guys were playing their tails off. We just had some crazy plays happen and some tough breaks. You know, we had to grind to find a way to win those games, but the games that we've really dominated, we've won the turnover margin.

Just like last week, we won the turnover margin, we won the big-play margin, and when we've done that, we've been at our best. When we've lost the margin, and we did that several times this year, we put ourselves in harm's way. So that's been the key stat for us all year long. First part of the year it was drops. Middle part we had an enormous amount of turnovers, I mean, an enormous amount of fumbles and just crazy stuff. Punt returns for a touchdown and we throw the ball down on the six-inch line, just stupid stuff. And then we had some highly competitive plays that guys got the ball out like the big hit on Wayne Gallman. I mean, Wayne Gallman is giving everything he got, and it was a big hit in the red zone and he fumbles the ball. Mike Williams, reaching for an extra yard inside the 5-yard line, the ball comes out, hits him, stays in bounds, the guy runs 60 yards. Just some crazy stuff.

But we just kind of grew through that, cleaned it up a little bit and got the results we needed to get.

Deshaun gets a lot of attention (Inaudible.) When you hear that, what does that indicate to you?

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, I think he kind of took offense to that in saying, oh, well, he's more of a runner. Deshaun Watson is as complete a quarterback as I've ever been around and probably ever will be, and probably ever that's going to play at the next level. This kid is a brilliant quarterback, brilliant. I mean, he is unbelievable. Football IQ, his preparation, the way he goes to work every day, his skill set. He can make any throw and every throw. What makes him so special other than his poise and his skill set is he can beat you from the pocket. He's done it many times. And when he scrambles, he can beat you with his legs by running for first downs, but he can beat you with his legs because he can extend plays and then make the throws.

So he's just a very complete player, and I think he answered the question with – I don't know how it was asked, but probably set him off a little bit, and he answered it probably the way he should have.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Well, it's just a lack of people doing their due diligence, really. I mean, it's just people that say things that don't really understand what they're talking about.

Yesterday you mentioned there was 28 (inaudible)?

DABO SWINNEY: Well, first and foremost, we can't let them score on defense or special teams. If they do that, you're probably getting beat. I've never seen anything like it. They've got 15 – they've created a word, they've done it so much. Knots. 15 of them. A knot was what I thought you had in your shoe. I mean, they've brought a whole new thing, and they've taken great pride in that. First of all, you can't let them score on defense or special teams. You've got to try to play a clean game, and then you've got to win that turnover margin. If you do turn it over, hopefully it points the other way, but you've got to win that margin, and you've got to make those critical plays when they present themselves because they don't make many mistakes. Rarely. Even last year, it's not like we had guys running wide open. We had some guys make some very competitive plays, and our guys competed their tails off. They're going to do the same thing. But we had some critical mistakes that had nothing to do with Alabama. We got the lead in the fourth quarter and first down on the plus 40 going in, we really had great momentum and we fumbled the exchange. Stuff like that.

Those are things that Alabama will expose you and exploit you because they don't make a lot of mistakes. They're always where they're supposed to be. They're sound in all three phases. So you've got to match that and you've got to make those critical plays. We've got to find a way to get a couple of them knots. That's what we've got to do.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Movie sequel? Rocky? Does it get any better than Rocky? I'm from the '70s and '80s, man.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Did Rocky always win or did he lose one? He won the second one? There you go. Perfect.

How hard was it for you to (inaudible)?

DABO SWINNEY: You know, I had some challenges growing up, but I had a great family. My dad was a great man, loved my dad. But he had some demons that he fought, and it was tough to have to see some of those things as a kid. But those are all things that – I just believe that God doesn't save you from things, he saves you through them. I think that everything that I dealt with, especially once I became a coach, I kind of had great clarity on what the purpose of my life was. I am very thankful for my upbringing, my family, my dad, miss my dad. Wish he was here. He would just have a ball with this, man. This would just be – I know he's watching down just going, man, look at this. You know, you couldn't have a bigger Alabama fan than my dad, so this is special.

And my mom, for her to be here, to experience this, having her three years at college with me was tough times but some of the best days of my life. It's great to see my family where we are right now. We still have, like any family, some challenges within our family because we're human beings, but you do the best you can, and very blessed to have the wife that I have, that I met in the first grade. She's been with me forever, and to have the three boys that I have, one of them is going to come play for us next year. It's been a blessing.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah. It's like I'm around KT every day. It's like I'm back in 1988 and '89 because that's what – he's the spitting image of KT. Unbelievable. He just carries himself the same way. I'm so proud of Nolan. Nolan had an excellent semester academically. He's had a really good fall. We redshirted him. We put him in the weight room. He's put on some great mass and good strength. Really, really proud of him. Going to be a really good player, and it's pretty cool for him to be here and to experience this moment, as well.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Our TTB is special because my first year coaching was '09, and the ACC Championship Game was going to be in Tampa that year, and the ACC had a slogan, RTTB, that was the kind of the Road to Tampa Bay, all year long. That was their deal. I've always been a dreamer, always. I think it's important to dream big and to believe. When I got the job, we hadn't won the ACC in 20 years. We hadn't won 10 games in 20 years. We had never won a division. So I'm like, hey, let's go compete for this division.

We worked really hard, and we ended up winning the division, and so it was unbelievable in our first year to have a chance to bring Clemson to the ACC Championship Game.

Obviously our intent was to win it, and it was an unbelievable game with Georgia Tech. Neither team punted. Neither team punted. It was like 39-34. I've never been a part – we'd get the lead, they've got to go 86 yards to beat us, and they converted like three or four fourth downs on that drive, just painful, and they win the game. I remember walking off the field because we were going to the Orange Bowl. Clemson hadn't been to the Orange Bowl in 30 years, we're going to the Orange Bowl, we're going to win the ACC. It was just meant to be. And we're walking off the field, and the oranges were being thrown at us for the wrong reasons. Next thing I know, we're in the Music City Bowl. No offense to the Music City Bowl but it was 20 degrees, and I'm thinking I'm going to be on South Beach. But our guys won that bowl game, and it was a special moment, and I was disappointed when they moved the game from Tampa to Charlotte because I wanted to have a chance to get back and kind of rectify that.

And so we ended up a couple years later back in it. We've won three titles now, and it's been in Charlotte up until this year, but it's been a neat thing. But for me, I kept a lot of that RTTB stuff, and when we started this year, and they said that the National Championship was going to be in Tampa Bay, I kind of used that all year long, Road to Tampa Bay. We've been on the Road to Tampa Bay. I've used that with our team all year long, kind of had this little bus thing, and we thought we were going to Charlotte, we went to Orlando. We thought we were going to Atlanta, we went to Arizona. But we never got off the Road to Tampa Bay. We had a flat tire along the way and a couple detours, but we've been on the Road to Tampa Bay all year with everything we've done, and now here we are. It's just awesome to have another opportunity to go and try to win a championship on this field.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, there is. I went to – I always try to give these guys kind of something to hang their hats on that's relevant to where we are with that team and that season and so forth and last May, I went to Chicago for the draft and I took my coaches with me, and we got there a day early and just so happened the Cubs were playing the Brewers, I believe. And so got a couple of connections and hooked up, and next thing we're getting to go to the Cubs game, and I've got a buddy there now named VJ, and VJ hooked us up, so he meets us, and he takes us out on the field and everything. Turns out there's a rain delay, so he takes us into the locker room, and they had just moved into their new locker room. They had only been in it 10 days or so, and I walk in there, and they've got a drum set, they've got a disco ball hanging – I'm like, what the heck is this, and they're like, this is the celebration room. Joe likes to celebrate. And I'm like, I like this guy.

This is a true story. Joe Maddon would kill me for saying this because we've kind of become buddies and we text a little bit.

But I called my agent and I said, hey, man, we're going up to the draft, and I said, would you happen to know anybody that could maybe get me and Venables and Hobby some tickets to the Cubs game? He goes, well, I know Joe Maddon, and I go, who's Joe Maddon? He went, he's the manager. I go, that's a pretty good guy to know. So Joe Maddon hooked us up with VJ and so we ended up going in. So there was this rain delay. Next thing I know, VJ gave us a tour, and then he takes us into the locker room, and I really didn't know many of these guys, but as it turns out, man, these guys are huge football fans, and Jon Lester comes right up to me, and they're all like, hey coach, how you are you doing? And Jon Lester's wife is a Clemson grad, and he's from Georgia. Just kind of sat around and talked to all those guys. It was really neat to meet him. That shortstop, he looked like my son. He was like this young kid, and watching those guys get ready for the game. What's the pitcher's name? Arrieta? Arrieta was on the mound but he was off doing Zen somewhere getting ready.

So there's this rain delay, not sure if they're going to play, so I'm walking around, I've got a chance to kind of see the culture there, and I was like, man, this is really cool. These guys are loose, they know they've got a good team, and so I ended up going around, and so they take me to meet Joe. So I go meet Joe and I walk in his office and he's got his baseball pants on and he's got this shirt on that says try not to suck, and I'm like – he's big. I'm like, this is Joe Maddon. So we talked for a minute, and he's like, hey man, I watched your team and watched you guys last year and we kind of have an instant connection. It was really neat. I told him, you need to know this, because I had met his players and been around, you guys have a great culture. I'm telling you, you've got a winning culture here. You've got a good – just feel in this building. You can smell it.

They knew they had the best team, and I think they embraced that. They embraced that. Don't run from that. It kind of resonated with me, and when I came back and I kind of got off this summer and had a little time, that was one of the things I came back and I told the guys day one, listen, everybody has been telling us we're this target, well, we are the target, but let's embrace that, but for us at Clemson, best is the standard. So if Clemson is the target, best is the standard.

So let's focus on being the best we can be. Let's be committed to that and let's embrace that. Let's run right to it.

Our guys bought into that, and then I've always told the guys, my message has always been, hey, don't lose to Clemson. If we don't lose to Clemson, we've got a chance here.

You know, Joe Maddon says, hey, if we just don't suck, we've got a chance to win. So that kind of resonated with our guys, and pretty cool experience to see those Cubs win. My father-in-law is a huge Cubs fan, and to see them do something that hasn't been done in, whatever, 100 years or whatever, was pretty amazing. Pretty amazing.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Well, I mean, my philosophy is our job is to serve their hearts, not their talent. That's how we built our program. You can't serve somebody's heart if you don't know them, if you don't care about them, and that's just – that's in everything that we do. We try to really do what's best for these guys, hold them accountable. Sometimes when you're serving their heart, it's discipline that they don't like, but that's just how we do it.

Everything is inside out for us. Our focus is inside, inside the walls. It's our staff, it's the secretary, it's the people who clean the building. That's my focus. It's our players. And holding them accountable, and equipping them with the tools that they need to be successful, a high level of discipline, and not ever putting winning in front of doing what's right, ever. That's how we've built our culture at Clemson, and it is very family oriented. You can't fabricate family. That's got to be genuine.

I think that we're very blessed to have the people that we have in place, and that's the people that I hire, it's the people that I allow to be around our team, and how we coach them every single day, how we talk to them, because our actions speak a lot louder than our words.

What would it mean for you guys to break through and show that somebody other than Alabama and Florida State can win the National Championship?

DABO SWINNEY: Well, I hope that it would give a lot of people some hope out there, that, hey, National Championships aren't just for Alabamas and the Michigans and the Notre Dames and the Ohio States. Greatness is for all of us. It really is. I love that. The theme this year is chasing greatness, and greatness is for everyone, everybody. You don't have to have some great pedigree or DNA or you don't have to be a certain color. Greatness is for everyone. You've just got to be willing to work for it, man. You've got to have a belief, and you've got to be committed to doing the little things. Everybody wants to be great. Not everybody is willing to do what it takes. I always tell them, it's the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. So it would be – I think it would hopefully inspire a lot of other programs. Certainly eight years ago, I don't think anybody saw us as a National Championship contender. I mean, we were a solid program. Coach Bowden never lost. We were a solid program, but we weren't a National Championship contender.

And to see what we've been able to do the last eight seasons has been special. It's just been one day at a time. That's what we always say, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, one bite at a time. You can't get it done in a day. I think it would inspire a lot of other teams out there.

I think that, again, a lot of these teams that have these rich and great traditions of championships, they're not going away, but there's no reason why we can't be great at Clemson, as well.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: No, I think it's great. I mean, I think any time you have a program that can be incredibly consistent, I think it's a standard for all to study and to learn from. I don't think you can just – I couldn't do it Coach Saban's way. I couldn't be successful. He is who he is, and he has to run his program the way he sees it. I am who I am. I think at the end of the day, you've got to be who you are.

But I think when you see dominant programs, dominant teams, okay, well, it's great to learn from them. Maybe it's dominant businesses, because obviously there's been some good decisions along the way in how they hire people, philosophies in place, culture is in place. Some places have more to work with than others. That's always going to be the case. You know, Nike, they're not really worried about that really great successful mom-and-pop business that's kicking everybody's butt in Florida, all right, but Nike can still learn from them, and those people can learn from Nike, and you find the things that work for you and apply it to what you do.

At the end of the day, it should all be about getting better. That's what the best of the best do. They're always striving to get better. I don't think you ever arrive. I think when you arrive, you get passed up, complacency, and that's why I have such great respect for Alabama. I mean, they're never satisfied. They just keep chasing greatness, and that's a great quality to have.

What do you think it means for families to be able to watch the guys play?

DABO SWINNEY: It's special. We've recruited a lot of guys from this area, Ron, Sammy Watkins from this area, as well. It's really neat for them to have a chance to come back home, and this is a state that is critical to us. You look at C.J. Spiller, Brian Dawkins, all the way back. The state of Florida has been a huge, huge priority for Clemson for a long time, and so to be able to play on this stage in the state of Florida and for a lot of these guys to have an opportunity to come back home and play I think is pretty special.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, he's at a funeral this morning. His granddad passed away and he's actually a pall bearer in the funeral, so he'll hopefully be back for the team picture this afternoon. He's great. Artavis is over from the Tarpon Springs area and just really has been an unbelievable player for us. Everybody talks about Deshaun but Artavis graduated in three years, too, and in three years he's the leading receiver in the history of Clemson. We all know there's been some great ones come through, but this young man is an incredibly underrated football player that has grown as a man and has a bright future.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: We bring them all. We've got 59 kids, aged zero to 18 on our staff, so we've got a fertile bunch at Clemson. We bring them all everywhere we go. We bring them. We load them up, we go. They're all with us. A lot of our kids, we have a certain age, are on the sidelines with us, and I think that's awesome because I think it allows our players to see us as husbands, as fathers, and it also reminds us when we're coaching those guys that, hey, our kids are watching. So we're always mindful of the example that we set for our own kids.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: He's like a father. He's a mentor, been a great role model and a leader for me. He instilled a lot of great qualities and toughness and work ethic. I remember in 1990 when I kind of broke through and actually kind of became a first-team guy for a little while, mostly second team, and I thought I was going to get my scholarship right then, and he told me I hadn't earned it. He just instilled a work ethic in me and a toughness, he and Woody McCorvey, two of the most influential men I've ever had in my life.

How often do you find yourself doing things or saying things that remind you of Bill Belichick?

DABO SWINNEY: All the time, about every day. Usually when I talk to my team, and I'll say, hey, my coach used to say, and I'll drop one out for them. But we actually had a reunion with Coach Stallings back in May, and you know, his grandson plays for me, which is pretty special to have him here, too. But we had a great reunion in Tuscaloosa back in May. And to get a chance to spend that couple days with Coach Stallings, I guess he's 82 now, 81, 82, it was really awesome to get all those guys back together and tell some of the stories. It was like 20 years never went by.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: He's just been awesome. You know, Mackey finalist again this year. I thought he was the best tight end in the country, and he's done the things that he needed to do to help us have a great season, get back here, but also prepare himself to go be a great pro, which he's going to be.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: No, no, what happened is they lost my one hat. Somehow, I don't know what happened. Abe didn't have my hat, and the new one that they had, I didn't like it. And so he gave me the Block C one, and I said, this one fits good. We've been on a little streak, so I just kept wearing it, C for championship. That's what we're chasing.

(No microphone.)

DABO SWINNEY: Past May, and let me tell you, it was like 43 degrees in May in Chicago. Unbelievable. But they won the game.

(No microphone.).

DABO SWINNEY: I saw Coach Stallings dance one time. We were getting ready to play LSU, and it was a tight game, we're all locked in, and this was back in the day. This was 1992, '91, '92, '93, but it was a tense moment, and I think Coach Stallings could kind of sense it, and all of a sudden he kind of looked at everybody, and he was always buttoned up in a tie, and I just kind of went – like raise the roof. Somebody had taught him that. I don't know where he learned that. And the guys just fell out. But what Coach Stallings taught me was to have fun winning. The fun was in the winning. We always celebrated winning. It didn't matter how we won. He taught me that. I don't care if you win 3-2 or 65-64. Hey, man, the fun is in the winning. He taught that to me early on, and he's right. And the fun is in the winning, but it's also important how you win. And we focus a lot on that.

TONY

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: No doubt. Deshaun is the type of young man, I don't like to use the word 'deserve', I prefer the word 'earn'. If there's any young man in the country more deserving, I'd like to meet him. You're talking about a young man that's done everything right, on the field, off the field, stands for everything right. He's going to change the whole landscape of his family generations to come in the Watson family. He's the poster child for a guy that does everything right.

If you want to throw out the word 'deserve,' I think he definitely deserves it. We know it's bigger than deserving, it's about earning.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: None (laughter).

Well, I mean, we've seen some 3-4 defenses. Earlier in the season we saw a lot of what we call the Okie defense. Teams over the last couple years, seems like it's a bigger trend to play a lot more 3-4, but to shade your defensive ends in a head up to an inside shade on your tackle. We see a lot of that early in the season. Troy did a lot of that. Wake Forest does some of that in the past. Everybody is doing it now on third down. You're seeing it pretty much in everybody's package.

How does that change your offensive line and what they have to do?

TONY ELLIOTT: It doesn't change it. You just have to make sure that they know the details on every single concept we carry into the game. You have to make sure when you're preparing them, you're preparing them for that four down, that odd defense as well. There are some nuances.

That's where the game really takes place. Everybody talks about all of the skill guys on the perimeter. But really where the game takes place is those six inches between a head up on a lineman to an inside shade on a guard, center or tackle. That's really where the game is. That's where all the details take place.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: I wish you wouldn't have reminded me. But definitely. That's when we're at our best, when we can be balanced.

The big thing is we don't need to worry about necessarily the statistical number, but just the effectiveness of being balanced, keeping them honest. If we can keep them honest, stay balanced, we can get to some other things we have within our plan.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: That every one of them, all starting 11, are going to probably play in the National Football League. Their defensive line, it's a little bit different from last year. It looks like you can see by design. They want to continue to keep those two big guys inside to stop the run, be two-gap guys, but they're a lot faster coming off the edge.

I think Reuben Foster is playing some of the best football I've seen of a linebacker in my six years at Clemson. He's totally transformed from last year. You can see that he's grown up. He's in charge. Minkah gives them some flexibility on the back end. I really like what Tony Brown has done coming in and playing in that nickel position.

They run well. They communicate. Obviously you can see that they have a lot of different adjustments based on the movements that you do. But everybody's on the same page. They're never out of the gap. It looks like they're having a lot of fun, they're playing hard. They're not just playing to stop you, they're playing to score points on defense. That's what you notice about this unit. They're stripping the ball. Everybody's flying to the ball hoping that it pops out so they can be the one.

I saw something on social media, maybe they call it the Six Club. They all want to be a part of that Six Club.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: We've brought up the point that they scored a bunch, a lot of their points have come on defense and special teams. We know that ball security is a premium, not just in this game but every game we go into. We're not going to make a huge deal about it, but just make sure you protect the ball. They're going to come strip at it.

Our biggest thing is we feel like if we can stay positive in the turnover margin, we have a good shot to win the football game.

Could you imagine the challenge that Sark has?

TONY ELLIOTT: I kind of was in that situation with my first go-round. Chad departs right after the South Carolina game. I go on the road recruiting, Jeff and I have to come up with a game plan against Oklahoma. I definitely know the stress of being in that situation.

The advantage he has, he's been a head coach, he's been an offensive coordinator, he's called plays in the past. He's been there all season long. He hasn't had to worry about recruiting, so he's been able to completely dive in and get on the same page as Lane.

I anticipate there may be a few nerves, but he's been there, he's done it. It's not quite like our situation when it was the first time.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: It's very, very small. One, I hadn't seen anybody recreate the line of scrimmage. They're going to hold point. Any time those backs come through there, they're going to have big 300-pounders ripping at that ball. They got guys flying on the second level coming in to tackle.

The hits are going to arrive a lot quicker. Then you see on the back end, it's like playing against an NFL secondary. The windows are very, very, very small. Because they can rush with four, they can drop their linebackers into coverage, they can disguise some things, tip balls. They have all the ways to create turnovers.

They can create it with their D-line, they can create it with sack fumbles, they can tip balls for interceptions, then they force you to throw into tight windows. Their guys are in position to make plays in those tight windows.

When Chad left, what was the biggest difficulty for you making the transition?

TONY ELLIOTT: Just being in total charge of the game plan. As an assistant or even as an analyst, you may have a certain aspect of the game plan that you're responsible for. But when you're the coordinator, you're responsible for bringing the whole package together.

You're going to divy up some of that, give those guys some responsibility. At the end of the day you got to bring the whole package together and make sure that you understand all of the things that you have in your plan, all of the answers, all of the different situations. It's a lot of information that you got to be able to process quickly.

Again, Jeff and I did have a month to get ready. But he has experience in the past. Just taking over the complete control of that.

Did you try to do what Clemson had done before under Chad or...

TONY ELLIOTT: We definitely went in with the same offensive plan. We did have a different dynamic in that Deshaun was out. He played in the South Carolina game, then he had surgery, so he was out. We were going in with a different style of quarterback than Deshaun. There were some things that we did have to tweak to try and put him in a position to be successful.

In the situation where if we would have had Deshaun, it would have looked just like it was with Chad.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: You know, I was a decent basketball player. Funny story is I had no ambition to play basketball. I happened to be playing in a rec. The varsity team had just got done practicing. He saw me playing pickup ball. He encouraged me to come out. From my sophomore year on, that's why I played basketball.

Really my first love has always been baseball. Growing up in California, early in my life, baseball was all I knew. Then football, then third sport was always basketball.

You hate to say a loss is good, but after the Pitt game, it looks like you guys have been on a mission.

TONY ELLIOTT: Coach Swinney said it best. He said prosperity is an awful teacher. I think based off the belief system that he has and I have, we understand that adversity builds character.

Now, we are designed to be prosperous. We want to live in prosperity. But we always need a little bit of adversity to ground us and humble us to make sure we stay disciplined so we can receive the prosperity.

I think the guys took it to heart. They took the challenge. They had an opportunity to respond. Everybody in the country was looking to see how they responded. They were playing for a championship, the Atlantic Division championship the week after, and they responded the right way.

With Alabama, the second guy in goes right for the ball. Is that what's happening?

TONY ELLIOTT: I think so. Those guys have a tremendous amount of pride in dominating, not just dominating, but also scoring on defense. So what you're seeing is those guys are tackling the football. Everybody's in a scramble to pick up the ball.

I think they've even coined it as the Six Club. Everybody on defense wants to be a part of that club. They're all trying to get into the end zone.

You have to applaud them for those guys. It's hard enough to motivate guys to play hard every single down. To take pride in scoring on defense, you got to commend those coaches on defense for what they've done this year.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: The first? Actually, I was on a plane ride going to recruit couple days -- you're talking about the 'Bama loss last year?

Yes.

TONY ELLIOTT: A couple days to recruit, wanting to get it out of my system, grade it, in fairness to the guys. Those guys, they're counting on me to correct mistakes and to praise them on the things they did good. I wanted to make sure I had my head around it, but also wanted to make sure that what I told those guys in that locker room after the game, I was living up to.

I said, that was the hardest thing I had to do, stand up in front of that offense and console them after that loss. I don't ever want to have to do that again.

It started with, Hey, these are the things that cost us our opportunity. I want to make sure I get my 1% more. It started on the plane ride after the game.

When did the team first watch the game again?

TONY ELLIOTT: The first time is the next team meeting. Coach Swinney brought them in and put the game to bed. Also went back and saw that obviously give credit to Alabama, they won the football game, but we always talked about in our program, it's all about Clemson. If we don't lose to Clemson, we're going to be in good shape.

We had about five or six plays all across the board, special teams, offense, defense, where if we just don't lose to Clemson, we're in position to win that game.

I'm thinking about three or four plays on offense. There's a sprint-out that we missed to Renfrow. We hit that, the ball is going to be across midfield, opportunity. Another first down, in position to score points. We had the cleanest block inside zone from the game. We fumbled the snap. I mean, we fumbled the exchange. Just simple things like that that we control, that we didn't take care of business, which ultimately led to us not being successful.

When you watched it on the plane by yourself, what was the experience like?

TONY ELLIOTT: It was tough. After the game, I went into the locker room, I went to Coach Swinney. I just encouraged him to be strong. These guys, they gave us everything they had in that game. We need to encourage these guys and show them how much we appreciate them.

I was strong the rest. When I woke up the next morning, I just broke down and cried because we were so close. I wanted it so bad for Coach Swinney. I wanted it so bad for our program, for our university, for our players, because they gave everything they had.

So watching it, I mean, it brought a few tears to my eyes, not because we lost the game, but we were so close. I couldn't find a couple more yards. I couldn't find six more points to help this team be successful.

Did you sense anybody around you was looking at you as you were getting emotional?

TONY ELLIOTT: I think so. I think everybody was a little bit emotional after that one because Coach Swinney came in with a vision to have this program at an elite program, one of the top programs in the country. Everybody just went to work. Nobody questioned. To be at the top of the mountain, to be that close, not to get it done, everybody felt for that.

As an offensive coordinator, do you appreciate what Steve is doing?

TONY ELLIOTT: Definitely. Jeff and I myself were put in a similar position with Chad leaving going to SMU. The difference was it was a bowl game so we had a little bit more time to prepare. It was our first time calling plays in a game. So definitely can appreciate that. You're going into the biggest game of the year, you got to put together the whole plan.

The positive for him is he's been a head coach. He's been a coordinator. He's done it before. He's been there all year. He knows the terminology, the system. I anticipate they're going to come out playing well on offense.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: Extremely proud of that young man. He's just more appreciative of his opportunity. A lot of times when you're dealing with high-profile athletes that are told how great they are, they're allowed to get away with some things. They don't necessarily understand. Their definition of what is right and wrong may not be the same definition of the rules and guidelines of what you have within your program.

He's a young man that was never a disrespectful kid, but just kind of toed the line. The decision he made, because he could have left Clemson after that situation last year, but he owned up to it, he took responsibility. To come back and see where his GPA is, to see how he's worked every single day, no issues. He's one of the first guys in the meeting. He's always on time.

Just really, really proud of his maturity and growth. At the end of the day that's really what's important. We're here talking about football. But he's going to be a father one day. He's going to be a husband. If we don't try to help him establish those characteristics and qualities that he needs to be successful, then we've really done him a disservice by serving his talent and not his heart.

When you see how much it means for him to be here in this national championship, talk about it.

TONY ELLIOTT: No question. You've just seen an extreme focus out of him. He's a laughable guy. He likes to joke. These last couple weeks, man, he's been really, really focused. He's had his eyes on the prize. I'm excited to get out there and find ways to get him opportunities with the football to see can he put on a show in his hometown.

The storybook ending, to go from where he was last year, to now, potentially a national championship. Talk about that.

TONY ELLIOTT: I think that's going to be the difference in his life going forward. That's going to be what he can look back and say that this was the turning point that I made a decision to be who I'm capable of being, not trying to be somebody I'm not, not what everybody else wants me to be. I decided to grow up and say, I'm going to be Deon Cain. It's going to make a difference not just for him, but his mom, his brothers, everybody else in his family, and his kids to come.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: I think we have to do what we do. I think they do a good job. I don't know if offensively schematically they've changed, they can score on defense. You have to challenge your guys to protect the football. You have to be aggressive. You have to go score points yourself. If you sit back and are timid to call certain plays because you're worried about a turnover, you're not going to be able to attack some of the weaknesses they possess. If you don't do that, you won't have an opportunity to score points. Doesn't matter if they score on defense, your team won't be in the game.

So many good players, any particular one or two that keep you up at night?

TONY ELLIOTT: Jonathan Allen. We've seen some really, really good D-linemen come through our program, at Florida State, within our conference. He's probably the most versatile guy I've seen in a long, long time. The one he reminds me the most of is a guy named Melvin Ingram that played at South Carolina. Just a beast. Could play three technique, nose, end, they could stand him up, drop him in coverage.

Reuben Foster, as I said earlier, totally different guy than last year. Leaned down. Explosiveness is up. Violent tackler. He's in control of the defense, making calls, making adjustments, lining people up. Those are the guys that really stand out.

What have you noticed about how the defense changed this year versus last year?

TONY ELLIOTT: Structurally I think there's a lot of similarities. But you brought up the point I think they know they can score on defense. They're playing with a tenacity and effort level to score on defense. They're not happy with getting the offense off the field. They want to be disruptive, create turnovers, try to score points themselves.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: I think last year's touchdowns won't win this year's game. Obviously Deshaun is going to have to play a great game again this year.

But I think he has the confidence, just like everybody else on offense has confidence to know they can play these guys. It's not going to be easy. We are going to have to earn every single yard we get. But I think we go as four goes. When four is on his game, he elevates the play of everybody else around him.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: He lives it. It's not just talk about Deshaun Watson. He's a competitive guy in everything that he does. He wants to be the best student, be the best person, be the best player, be the best dressed, the best dancer. He wants to do everything the best.

When you have a guy like that, it kind of reminds you of Michael Jordan. It elevates the play of everybody else around him. When he talks, they listen. They also know when they step on the practice field, they better be ready to go to work. He's not necessarily going to say anything, but he's going to shame them by the way he's working in practice.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: Last year, probably a little bit more nerves. I'm sure I'll have some nerves as I get closer to the game. But just a tremendous amount of confidence in the coaches around me, Coach Swinney, Coach Scott, all the other guys on offense. A extreme amount of confidence in our players.

I can call the plays. But it's not about me. It's about the guys on the field executing. I got a tremendous amount of confidence.

I got to challenge myself to make sure that I'm on my game. My game during the game is not necessarily to call it but to make the right adjustments, to be able to process the information that's coming from all the different avenues that I have information coming and get into the right play call and right situations.

These next couple days are critical in that process where I spend some time by myself kind of getting into my zone and processing everything that we've done in the game plan to make sure I can get to the right adjustments.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: I think personnel-wise, very, very similar to last year. Not quite as many D-linemen that they roll. They got some younger guys. Young guys last year are now the starters.

They just play hard, man. They play extremely hard. They're talking the football. They're trying to create. They just look like a team that wants to go out and try to dominate in every aspect on defense. That's why you see they're not just set as the top defense in the country, they got the statistical background to prove it as well.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: I think it would be huge for the state. I think a lot of times our state gets overlooked sometimes from a football standpoint because of the size of our state. If you look at the caliber of athletes that have come out of the state of South Carolina, that have gone on to play in the professional ranks, you'd be surprised.

But for us to have an opportunity to bring one home, that would be huge for the state. It would be huge for our university. It would be huge for our program. Just really excited for an opportunity to try and get that done for Coach Swinney.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: In the secondary they got more versatility. Last year they were playing the same guys all the time. You see a lot more guys roll in. Because of 15, I think it's Harrison, because of his size back there on the hash, they can drop him down inside the box, bring in an extra dime guy, so they can play with six DBs, whereas last year they kept their linebackers on the field most of the time.

They can use him as a dime back because they already have Tony Brown out there playing as the nickel back. They got a lot of speed on the back end that can be disruptive. Because they can rush with four, then if they need to rush five, they can rush Reuben and still have the best cover quality guys on the back end.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: Gives them some containment on the defense, as long as they stay in their rush lanes. But then also they can force the ball to come out a lot quicker because of the rush. So now you have more athletic guys on the back end to make plays on the ball when it's coming out quicker.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: I think you got to have every aspect of the passing game, whether it's quick, whether it's down the field, whether it's shots down the field. We got to go with what's gotten us here. We have some of that. We also have some things down the field.

A lot of it is the flow of the game, as well. We'll get out there and see how things are going. We'll get to the right adjustments, then we'll let our guys play. At the end of the day scheme is going to go out the window. This is a matchup where the best players got to play. If they come to play, it's going to be an exciting game to watch.

(No microphone.)

TONY ELLIOTT: Definitely. You are limited a little bit on times a opposed to the bowl games. You don't quite have as much time. You want to turn over every stone.

We've gone back to just kind of check what his flavor is, what his philosophy is, to kind of see is it showing up the same, is it a little bit different. You have to consider, too, the personnel. Sometimes your personnel is going to change the philosophy you have on defense and how you call it.

See a lot of similarities, but also see some of the influence that you saw last year with Kirby and Nick.

JEFF

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: I think the biggest thing is it gets our brand out there at a national level. Everybody's got smart phones in their hands, they're checking their social media probably 10 times every hour. So to be able to get your brand and your message right in front of them on a consistent basis I think is huge.

Then I think the way we've been able to separate ourselves by the type of content that we put out there has been very unique. But it's something that Coach Swinney and our athletic director, Dan Radakovich, they wanted to really improve our social media presence about two years ago. I think it's definitely paid off for us.

There's so many high schools we go into for the first time, and the head coach will tell us, Man, y'all put out the best videos, the best stuff on social media. I use a lot of your stuff all the time. Whenever that's your very first meeting with a coach, he already knows all about you, your staff, your program, it definitely pays off.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: Oh, absolutely. I believe it does. The way that recruits look at Clemson is different now than it was three or four years ago. Not just because of the winning and what we've done on the field, but because of what they've seen through social media, the content that we've given them over the last few years.

Is there anything from an offensive standpoint you took away from last year's game?

JEFF SCOTT: Obviously we watched the game. It's one thing going into a game against Alabama, that type of defense, that type of scheme, and trying to wonder what could happen with some of the things you do schematically, if this would work, if that would work, than actually experiencing it and doing it. Some things we thought would work in that game did not, and there were some things that we weren't sure about that we had success with.

I think experience, not just from a coach's standpoint, but with the players, having that experience, being out there with them.

They got a lot of the same players back. We got a lot of the same players back on our offense. I think there's definitely a lot of confidence that comes with that, but also schematically there are definitely things you can pull from last year's game, last year's experience.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: It's huge. I've gotten that question a lot. First thing, I give Charone Peake a lot of credit. He probably had one of his best games of his Clemson career last year in place of Mike. He really did a great job all year.

There's no question, Mike Williams is a difference maker. He makes defenses defend us differently when he's on the field. He's a guy that Deshaun has a lot of faith in. They've had a lot of things together. They have a high confidence in each other, knowing where the ball's going to be, knowing where Mike's going to be, those type of things. So I think having Mike and Deon Cain, two guys that are probably leading our team in touchdowns from a receiving perspective in this game this year, is definitely an added benefit.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: I think obviously it was a very difficult year, him having to sit out. It's also difficult when you have an injury like that, it's different than an ACL or shoulder injury or something where you know you're hurt, you're not ready to go.

With his injury, it being a fracture on a piece of his neck, he felt like he was healthy. But really from a safety standpoint, you couldn't put him out there. I think that was very difficult for him.

But he handled it the right way. That's what we talked about. Hey, your time's coming. You just got to be patient and be ready.

This spring, whenever he got out there, there was a little bit of concern early on. Is he going to be tentative with the neck when he gets put in similar situations? But I can remember very early in spring practice, within the first three days, he dove for a ball. Whenever he dove, he hit his neck on one of the safety's knees going down. Kind of put him in a real bad spot. He jumped right back up and went right back to the line for the next play. That was kind of the moment we said, He's back, he's good to go.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: I think really at this point last year, he wanted to play. He wanted to come back and play in the bowl game, in the playoff games. He felt like he was healthy enough to do that.

But we just didn't want to take any chance with bringing him back too early. We knew that having an entire spring to go through would be a lot better timing getting ready for this season.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: When he first got injured, honestly Mike has been a guy, you know, he's had a situation in practice where he ran into a ball machine one time that was in the corner of the indoor. It looked like he broke his leg. He laid around, rolled around for about five minutes, then jumped right back up and was okay.

To be honest, whenever it happened, once they said, He's moving, I said, He's going to be fine. I thought he'd be back in the game the very next series. Once they held him down longer and longer, started talking about some of the things, it got serious.

I think at halftime is whenever we got the news, good news, bad news. Good news is that it's not a situation of paralysis or anything like that, but bad news is he's going to be out the rest of the year.

I can remember at that point sitting there at halftime in the locker room thinking 8-5, trying to figure out where we were going to be because he was such a key part of our offense.

But I think the very first thing you think about is his career. He's a guy that's got a special future ahead of him at the next level if he'll continue to stay healthy. So that was the first thing that kind of went through your mind, is being sure that he's going to be healthy, be able to walk, be able to play again. Once we heard that, we could deal with him sitting out a year.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: Yeah, I think especially early on, Mike has a unique ability in the one-on-one man situations versus some of the top corners to be able to still win those matchups because he's a very physical guy, to be able to go up and attack the ball.

Charone Peake, who replaced Mike, is a good receiver in his own right, but a little bit different. He's kind of more a little bit of a space guy, really good on the end cuts, things like that. But Mike was definitely very talented in those one-on-one man matchups.

We definitely had to adjust to a few things. We've been able to notice having him back this year definitely has allowed us to win more of those one-on-one matchups.

Does he allow you to stretch their defense more than anybody?

JEFF SCOTT: Yeah, I believe so. Obviously, Deshaun being able to run the ball is a big thing. If you're going to come down and stop Deshaun, you're putting guys on islands on the outside. We've got a lot of respect for their defensive backs. They're some of the best. Last week against Ohio State, I think they all have corners slated to go in the first round. It's kind of the cream of the crop, if you will. I think it's a great matchup, one that will be important for us to win on the outside. If they can man us up on the outside, we consistent win those matchups, it will be a long night.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: Well, yes, there is. I mean, you kind of go into the game after you study it for a week, Hey, this is a week that we feel like we can execute and win without having Deshaun run the ball and be a major factor.

Then when you get to this part of the year, that's kind of been our pattern. I think we went through that last year, experienced that. Our goal was to play 15 games. Not that that was a guarantee or anything like that. We understood what we had to do to get there. But we also want to be smart enough that we scheduled it out right, so that he is healthy enough to be able to play in this game if you get here.

There's definitely some of those conversations. We always want to have the quarterback run as a part of our scheme. There's certain weeks where we felt like we could call a few less quarterback runs than other weeks.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: Yeah. Everything's on the table. No question about it.

How do you try to minimize the potential damage of their defense?

JEFF SCOTT: That's obviously a focus. It's a focus every week, but even more of a focus and emphasis this week. Not just are they getting turnovers, but they're turning them into touchdowns. That's a big thing. We have to help our defense out just by the way we protect the football.

This is not a team that you want to turn the ball over and give them short fields. Field position is going to be critical, as it is in every game.

But the biggest thing also when you talk about turnovers, I think you can hurt yourself if you talk about it too much. It's not a situation where we pulled up all 11 of their defensive touchdowns and showed them to our guys. That's not the picture we want our guys to have. They know what protecting the football looks like. They know the importance of it.

We had that conversation, Do we want to show it to them. Somebody in the room said, They've watched it every week on SportsCenter. Every single week they've had a defensive touchdown, it seemed like.

Our guys know. They understand that's important. Not just executing, getting first downs, but also keeping the ball on our side and not putting it at risk.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: First of all, it's kind of the legend of Hunter Renfrow. I heard about him for a year before I ever met him. I would say no less than five or six head coaches down there in that area of the PD had either called me or texted me about Hunter Renfrow. A big part of is we had Adam Humphries, who is now with the bucks, playing for us. Adam was a very efficient player for us, made a lot of plays. Adam actually started more games as a wide receiver than anybody in Clemson history. So I had several coaches from that area say, Hey, I think we found the next Adam Humphries. He has the 'it' factor. He plays quarterback. He's a coach's son.

I was looking forward to meeting him whenever he came up to our football camp. Whenever he came up, I didn't really think that was him because he was only about 150 pounds. I think he looked like he was in the seventh grade, and he was getting ready to go into the 12th grade.

Doing some of the drills we do at our football camp, you could tell, putting him in different positions, his quickness and suddenness was really good. Even though he hadn't played receiver before, some guys are just very natural when you ask them to do something. It's fun. I'm asking him to do something for the very first time, and he does it really well, better than he even realizes.

So myself, who put a lot of different receivers, talented guys, through those same drills, I could tell the difference where he really couldn't tell because it's the first time that he went through it.

We've made a living at Clemson having a few guys like that. Coach Swinney, he was a walk-on at Alabama. Myself, walk-on at Clemson. Hunter just had kind of that 'it' factor.

The thing that surprised me is I didn't think he would be ready to go quite as quickly as he was, as a redshirt freshman.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: What makes Hunter special is his change of direction, being able to put his foot in the ground, make guys miss. The position we put him in, the things we ask him to do, match him up against linebackers. He's a very difficult guy to cover in there. Him and Deshaun have great chemistry. They're on the same page. There's a very high trust level between both of those guys.

But, yeah, I do see some of the things he did in high school carrying over to that slot position here at Clemson.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: Really proud of Jordan. His first two years, he nicknamed himself Lazy Leggett. That kind of tells you where he was as a football player his first two years. Was athletic, but didn't quite understand the work ethic and the attention to detail and daily commitment it was going to take.

It really came to a point in his career maybe two years ago where he was really thinking about transferring and going somewhere else and getting a fresh start.

Coach Swinney's message to him is, You can leave if you want, but you're going to have the same issues wherever you go. It's something you're going to have to make a decision and correct if you truly want to be a great player.

He chose to stay here and to do that. I'm very proud of him. He's made a 360-degree change as a player on the field, off the field, everything about him, and now put himself in the top category of tight ends in the country, has been a great play-maker for us.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: I've seen good maturity. He's gotten more physical at the point of attack, his blocking, which is something he knew he really needed to work on and make a focus. He's become even a better route runner, understanding leverage, coverages, different things. Has definitely set himself up well for the future.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: I think Mike has a combination. A lot of guys that are his height are more straight line guys, good vertical guys, but maybe don't have the change of direction. Then sometimes you can get these 6' guys or 5'11" guys that have good quickness and change of direction. Mike is one of those rare guys that have both, that can run after the catch like a 6' guy. Also he's very flexible. His position is one you have to make catches in a lot of different body positions, back shoulder catches. You find yourself in a lot of different positions.

Sometimes guys of his height have a little bit of stiffness. Mike has zero stiffness. He's just very flexible, fluid.

His catch radius is very big. I think that's something that helps him. He's improved a lot in becoming more of a physical player. That was really probably the biggest thing he had to work on from his freshman year to where he is now, is putting on some weight and being more physical attacking DBs, not trying to run around them, run arcs to the sidelines and those types of things.

Last year he was 210. This year he showed up at fall camp at 225 and has played very well at that weight.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: Yeah, I mean, we were told he would be back for spring practice, probably January, February be able to do our winter workouts, mat drills, those type of things. Really we were told that once he was back, there really was no concern from that injury, that he couldn't reinjure it or anything like that. It was healed completely. It was as if he had never been injured before.

So for us, it was more mental, to be sure that he could kind of put that behind him. He did a great job in the spring and got banged around a little bit, popped right back up. Really, there's not one time I can remember at all since he's been back, whether spring, two-a-days, even this season, where he's flinched at all from what happened last year.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: I mean, personally I felt like through fall camp last year, I told everybody in our room, Y'all enjoy Mike Williams this year because he's going to be gone. We've had three guys leave as true juniors to go to the NFL from the wide receiver position. I thought Mike was going to be the next guy because he really put himself in that position to have a great year.

The benefit for him is he was able to stay and get his degree. Also I think he'll be more prepared for the next level because he's stronger, he's bigger, more mature physically and mentally than if he would have left last year, which probably would have happened.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: If it was a guy like Deshaun Watson, I'd be happy to do that. I think that's what they have on that other side.

I think because we've been very fortunate to have great freshmen players. Samuel Watkins was a guy that came in day one 18 years old that was a freak. I felt like he could have played in the NFL at 18 years old.

Deshaun was a freshman that was different than anybody else. That's what I see with Jalen on the other side. He's just so mature beyond his years. He shows great poise. It's unheard of really to see a guy like that be able to be as successful as he's been this year at a place like Alabama. It's really incredible.

But that top 1% of guys, we've been fortunate to have a few of those guys at Clemson as well, that's where I put Jalen.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: Yeah, I think he will be. I think he's in a lot better position this year obviously than he was last year. Before he's really ready to go out there and be the man, be the starter, I think he still has a little bit of work to do this spring, which is normal.

But I think I'm very excited to have him in this game. He's been a great play-maker for us this year. I think the combination of Mike and Deon, being able to roll those guys throughout a game...

We joke all the time, I think Alabama probably is definitely the exception to this rule, but usually we joke that most teams have one and a half corners that they trust. So the point of that is, they're not going to be rolling a lot of corners. Most teams aren't going to roll a lot of corners throughout a game. If you can roll talented receivers, you're going to wear them down in the fourth quarter.

With Alabama, these guys, you know, they can play for a long time, very talented. They've got more depth than most people do in the defensive backfield.

(Question about Coach Saban's defenses.)

JEFF SCOTT: Number one is recruiting. No question about it. They recruit as good or better than anybody in the country. Number two, they have a very sound scheme. Coach Saban obviously is one of the best defensive minds in all of college football.

What you notice as an offensive coach is they make you earn every yard that you get. Offensively sometimes you can play against some defenses and you can find some easy, cheap plays, cheap yards, cheap touchdowns. You just never see that with an Alabama defense.

Every single catch is contested with a guy on their back. It's just the receiver ended up making a great play over that defensive back. There's no easy layups. Also running the football is very difficult. They're going to make you earn every yard up front.

Then the other thing offensively, when you're playing a defense like this, is every play counts. We learned that last year. There's a couple plays we'd love to have back offensively last year as well. You have to make every play and every possession count against this type of defense.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: I think they are. I think what makes them a little bit better, they look like they're a little thinner and faster, especially No. 10. He looks very quick and fast. Very aggressive, as usual. But I think the defensive ends are a little bit different than last year. These guys played coming in on third down. Now they're every down defensive ends. Their quickness reminds me of like Vic Beasley that we had in the past. You're not going to sit back there and hold the ball very long with defensive ends like that.

To have the guys they have inside with that push, if you were just kind of drafting an All-Star team, I mean, that's exactly what you're going to have.

Then with the talent they have on the back end, it's incredible. Makes it very challenging.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: Yeah, they did. They're one of the few teams that has the depth to be able to rotate those guys up front.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: I would say having a running quarterback, you know. That's about it. Look at the success we had last year. You've got to have that because they're so talented that you're not going to sit back there in the pocket and just keep throwing the ball. They're going to break. They're going to get back there in the backfield. Your quarterback is going to have to break contain and make throws on the run to move the ball versus this type of defense.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: More experienced. I think we have a very veteran group really at every single position. We kind of had that senior captain that's been around, that's played a lot of ball, been through a lot of battles, has a lot of experience. That's probably one of the biggest differences from last year. Then obviously having a guy like Mike Williams over in the boundary, he makes us different in that aspect.

Other than that, a lot of things very similar. Each year you turn the page. I think for our offense, we feel like these last two years has really kind of just been one season. A lot of the same guys have been in there. There's a lot of confidence and momentum that comes from that.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: That's hard to say because he was so talented last year, as well. It's like trying to decide what the difference is in Tom Brady this year from last year. I mean, he was Tom Brady last year, too. That's kind of where Deshaun is.

There's no question, every year, because of your experience, you get better as a player. I know there's been a lot said about some of the interceptions and those things. The people that are inside the building, the coaches inside the staff room watching video every day, grading the game video, calling what we're doing. Also the players. We feel like Deshaun is at his very best that he's been in his career. Would love to see him go out on a high note.

(No microphone.)

JEFF SCOTT: I think coming back, the biggest thing is being more physical. I think it helped. He knew going into this season that he wanted to add some weight. He was 210 last year going into the season. He was 225 this year. That's a big thing for him at the next level.

He's going to be a boundary receiver. They're going to put their best corner over in the boundary. It's going to be physical matchups and physical battles.

I think early in his career, like a lot of receivers, he wanted to run around a lot of those DBs. Now he realizes you got to run through them. Those guys aren't going to let you just be able to get on top, hold your line, keep width for the quarterback, those type of things. You're truly going to have to be physical and run through guys and win the one-on-one physical matchup. I feel like that's where Mike has taken his game to the next level this year.

Against Ohio State, it's like you ran a fake toss, let Watson run behind it like a trick play (indiscernible).

JEFF SCOTT: He was. That shows a lot of improvement in his game. That was really an area where we needed Jordan to improve from last year to this year. We knew what he could do catching the ball, running routes, the passing game. Really for us to take the next level offensively would be for him to improve as a blocker.

He's definitely done that this year. Each game, you go into it kind of with a game plan. Once the game gets started, you start seeing what they're doing defensively, it can change your game plan. We found something that was working for us and decided to stick with it. Jordan did a great job with that.

You never want to say a loss is good. Since Pittsburgh, your focus has been crystal and on one thing. Did Pitt help you get refocused?

JEFF SCOTT: It did. I don't like using the word 'refocus' because I really don't feel like we lost the Pitt game because our guys weren't focused. Offensively we had one of our best games of the year outside of two costly turnovers in the red zone, then that third-and-one, fourth-and-one at the end of the game. Really it was probably our best throwing and catching game of the year with over 500 yards passing.

I feel like our guys all year long have played at a consistent level. But I do think that loss definitely reminded the guys that nothing's guaranteed. Sometimes you go through the season, you're working hard, all that. You just assume that this was going to happen. I think it was a good reminder to our guys that, Hey, we don't have another Mulligan. Everybody is talking about wanting to expand the playoff and all that. I feel like we've been in the playoff ever since that Pitt game, week 11.

I talked to the Alabama defensive coordinator. Normally you want to stop the run. He said he'd love to see you guys run, they don't want to see you pass the ball. How effective is that passing game?

JEFF SCOTT: Well, it's definitely important. For us, we want to be balanced. Whenever we rush for 200 and pass for 200, I think we're undefeated in the history of the school. We want to be balanced in what we're doing.

Defenses have to make decisions. Offensively we want to control the game with our tempo, with our speed, different things that we're doing. At the same time we want to figure out what the defense wants to take away. We're going to adjust off of that.

We feel very fortunate that we have players at each position that we can run the ball when they're trying to take away the pass or throw the ball when they're trying to take away the run. With a guy like Deshaun, who makes great decisions, we call some of those run-pass options when we give him that decision, post snap he's making it right, if you will.

I think it's definitely a cat-and-mouse game. I know they'll have...