This comes in from TI correspondent Gavin Oliver:
It seemed like all the analysts were talking about Notre Dame’s defense. What did Clemson’s offense accomplish tonight, on a wet track, too?
“For the last two weeks, there’s been a lot of talk and speculation, and proud of our guys because they didn’t listen to the noise. Everyone said that our offensive line wasn’t going to have a chance to run the ball against the front seven of Notre Dame, and I think we had two guys that were over 90 yards rushing the ball in Deshaun and Wayne, so very proud of those guys. We knew that they were a great defense and that they were going to challenge us.
“Leaving the hotel, I told the guys, ‘You’re going to remember this one forever. Play for each other, lay it on the line,’ and you watch those guys up front, you watch the backs run, you watch Deshaun run the football — they laid it on the line. Hats off to Notre Dame. They did some things and challenged us and took some of the passing game away from us, but when it counted, we found our running game to get enough offense to help us win the game.”
The calls in the fourth quarter — were you guys playing a little conservative at that point to try to milk the clock, and was ball security a concern there?
“Obviously, it was a concern with the weather. I think the rain picked up there at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but we were having a good rhythm running the ball. We were having some success, so didn’t want to take the ball out of (No.) 9’s hand or 4’s hand. The ball had been on the ground a couple times; we dropped a touchdown when we had a shot in the end zone, so yes, we were concerned about the weather, but we were having some rhythm running the football. We felt like we were going to put it on the offensive line, put it on the backs and came up short a couple times, but overall we had good success running the ball.”
What was Notre Dame, which limited the offense to 97 yards passing, doing to stop the passing game?
“They were mixing up their coverages pretty good. We felt good about the running game, so we probably led towards that some more. The screen game — we took some shots with the screen game. We tried to go down the field. We had the one to Charone, and we had the one that we dropped going ito the end zone. In a game like this when there is a wet ball, you’re concerned about your intermediate game, trying to throw the ball across the middle because you saw a couple times where the ball goes across the middle, goes through the hands, hits the helmet, pops in the air and it’s a turnover. So, obviously want to protect the ball. Proud of the guys. You look at the situation — we won the turnover margin. They had four, and we had one when we took a shot in the end zone, so we did a really good job protecting the ball all night, and yes, that was a concern, but we felt good about the running game as well.”
There was thought that Deshaun’s legs would play a big role in this game, so how nice was it to see Watson break free on the first drive, and the offense be able to start quickly and put it in the end zone early, twice?
“Oh, yeah. That was something that we challenged him — we wanted to come out and start fast and keep the pressure on, and we knew we were going to have to turn Deshaun loose and be calculated when we called the runs, but he was fine and he was finding lanes and looked comfortable running, so we fed him as much as we could, and then when his runs weren’t there, we gave it to Wayne, and he found some runs.”
What was the biggest key to getting Gallman going in the second half?
“Biggest key is just challenging him to stay disciplined, not to try to do to much, figure out where the running lanes were, stick with it, stay committed to the running game — it’s easy when you don’t have the success that you want early on to go away from it, but we knew it was going to be a game that was going to be won up front, and we knew we were going to have to be committed to the running game, and he did a great job. Deshaun did a great job, and hats off to the offensive line. That’s three games already this season where we’ve been right at 200, or over 200 yards rushing, which everyone had questions about those guys being able to run block going into the season.”
JEFF SCOTT
How much did the rain actually change the game plan?
“Yeah, I think it definitely changes the plan. It changes a lot of different things. It kind of goes in and out. Early on, the rain was not too bad, and we felt like we could throw the ball a little bit more, but later in the game, as it really got soggy out there, the balls were starting to get wet, and just felt like we were having success. If they took away the run, then we would have been forced to throw it a little bit more, but I felt like our guys were running well, and we wanted to keep the ball in Gallman’s hand and Deshaun’s hand and make them have to drive the whole field to beat us.”
Talk about Wayne’s performance the last two weeks.
“He’s done an excellent job, over 100 yards versus that type of defense. He’s a guy that continues to do it week in and week out, and you’re just seeing him getting better and better each week. We’ve seen him have a lot of success in practice, but it’s been great for him be able to carry it over to the game field, and I think he’s on his way to having a big year.”
What does tonight say about this team and how far it has come in making plays late in close games to win those tight games?
“It’s a great team win, and I also have to give a lot of credit to our fans. I’ve been around Clemson since my freshman year in 1999, and I’ve never seen an environment like that in those kind of conditions, and I think it was very obvious to everybody at the stadium and everybody watching at home that our fans had a huge impact on that game. There’s not many places in the country where you have the fans show out from 9 o’clock this morning on game day. Just turning on that television and seeing all of those guys and ladies out there on GameDay, I think it just made a statement to our players that hey, our fans are going to be there, they’re going to be loud and we have to do our part. So, I think it was a great team win for the team and all the fans.”
It seemed like all the analysts were talking about Notre Dame’s defense. What did Clemson’s offense accomplish tonight, on a wet track, too?
“For the last two weeks, there’s been a lot of talk and speculation, and proud of our guys because they didn’t listen to the noise. Everyone said that our offensive line wasn’t going to have a chance to run the ball against the front seven of Notre Dame, and I think we had two guys that were over 90 yards rushing the ball in Deshaun and Wayne, so very proud of those guys. We knew that they were a great defense and that they were going to challenge us.
“Leaving the hotel, I told the guys, ‘You’re going to remember this one forever. Play for each other, lay it on the line,’ and you watch those guys up front, you watch the backs run, you watch Deshaun run the football — they laid it on the line. Hats off to Notre Dame. They did some things and challenged us and took some of the passing game away from us, but when it counted, we found our running game to get enough offense to help us win the game.”
The calls in the fourth quarter — were you guys playing a little conservative at that point to try to milk the clock, and was ball security a concern there?
“Obviously, it was a concern with the weather. I think the rain picked up there at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but we were having a good rhythm running the ball. We were having some success, so didn’t want to take the ball out of (No.) 9’s hand or 4’s hand. The ball had been on the ground a couple times; we dropped a touchdown when we had a shot in the end zone, so yes, we were concerned about the weather, but we were having some rhythm running the football. We felt like we were going to put it on the offensive line, put it on the backs and came up short a couple times, but overall we had good success running the ball.”
What was Notre Dame, which limited the offense to 97 yards passing, doing to stop the passing game?
“They were mixing up their coverages pretty good. We felt good about the running game, so we probably led towards that some more. The screen game — we took some shots with the screen game. We tried to go down the field. We had the one to Charone, and we had the one that we dropped going ito the end zone. In a game like this when there is a wet ball, you’re concerned about your intermediate game, trying to throw the ball across the middle because you saw a couple times where the ball goes across the middle, goes through the hands, hits the helmet, pops in the air and it’s a turnover. So, obviously want to protect the ball. Proud of the guys. You look at the situation — we won the turnover margin. They had four, and we had one when we took a shot in the end zone, so we did a really good job protecting the ball all night, and yes, that was a concern, but we felt good about the running game as well.”
There was thought that Deshaun’s legs would play a big role in this game, so how nice was it to see Watson break free on the first drive, and the offense be able to start quickly and put it in the end zone early, twice?
“Oh, yeah. That was something that we challenged him — we wanted to come out and start fast and keep the pressure on, and we knew we were going to have to turn Deshaun loose and be calculated when we called the runs, but he was fine and he was finding lanes and looked comfortable running, so we fed him as much as we could, and then when his runs weren’t there, we gave it to Wayne, and he found some runs.”
What was the biggest key to getting Gallman going in the second half?
“Biggest key is just challenging him to stay disciplined, not to try to do to much, figure out where the running lanes were, stick with it, stay committed to the running game — it’s easy when you don’t have the success that you want early on to go away from it, but we knew it was going to be a game that was going to be won up front, and we knew we were going to have to be committed to the running game, and he did a great job. Deshaun did a great job, and hats off to the offensive line. That’s three games already this season where we’ve been right at 200, or over 200 yards rushing, which everyone had questions about those guys being able to run block going into the season.”
JEFF SCOTT
How much did the rain actually change the game plan?
“Yeah, I think it definitely changes the plan. It changes a lot of different things. It kind of goes in and out. Early on, the rain was not too bad, and we felt like we could throw the ball a little bit more, but later in the game, as it really got soggy out there, the balls were starting to get wet, and just felt like we were having success. If they took away the run, then we would have been forced to throw it a little bit more, but I felt like our guys were running well, and we wanted to keep the ball in Gallman’s hand and Deshaun’s hand and make them have to drive the whole field to beat us.”
Talk about Wayne’s performance the last two weeks.
“He’s done an excellent job, over 100 yards versus that type of defense. He’s a guy that continues to do it week in and week out, and you’re just seeing him getting better and better each week. We’ve seen him have a lot of success in practice, but it’s been great for him be able to carry it over to the game field, and I think he’s on his way to having a big year.”
What does tonight say about this team and how far it has come in making plays late in close games to win those tight games?
“It’s a great team win, and I also have to give a lot of credit to our fans. I’ve been around Clemson since my freshman year in 1999, and I’ve never seen an environment like that in those kind of conditions, and I think it was very obvious to everybody at the stadium and everybody watching at home that our fans had a huge impact on that game. There’s not many places in the country where you have the fans show out from 9 o’clock this morning on game day. Just turning on that television and seeing all of those guys and ladies out there on GameDay, I think it just made a statement to our players that hey, our fans are going to be there, they’re going to be loud and we have to do our part. So, I think it was a great team win for the team and all the fans.”
