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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 9, 2016

Dave Clawson

Greensboro, North Carolina

COACH CLAWSON: Certainly after last week, really proud of our players. Played really well in the first half. Then we fell behind in the fourth quarter. Again, I thought our guys showed a lot of heart and resilience in finding a way to come back.

We've found a way this year to stay in games and be in games, as opposed to a year ago, where we're winning our share of those close games in the fourth quarter. The formula seems a little bit different every week, but we'll take it.

It was a great feeling afterwards in the locker room. Our players have worked hard. Now we have to turn the page and play one of the elite teams in the country. This is, again, one of the very best teams that we've faced during my whole time here. There is not a weakness. They probably have the Heisman Trophy winner playing for them, and he's surrounded by really good skill players that can beat you on their own right, a good offensive line. They're the number one offense in the country yardage-wise and points-wise. It goes along with one of the very best defenses, one of the best fronts we've ever faced, and excellent guys in the secondary that can cover and run.

This will be a great challenge. We want to play in November games that have meaning. We know we're going to have to play extremely well. There's a very small margin for error when you play a team of this quality.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. A little video clip of the celebration in the locker room after your win on Saturday. Can you describe what it was like in that moment, going through that with your players.
COACH CLAWSON: It's just one of those moments in coaching that you want to enjoy it and savor it. You don't want the clock to move.

That has been a goal of ours since we've been here. That's not our ultimate goal, but that has to be the first step. We've put that goal in front of them every off-season. We try not to talk about it on a weekly basis, but you know that it's there.

It was just very rewarding, to see guys that are that happy, that worked so hard, some of these guys for five years. Then again, you got to get them back the next day, and there's a lot left in the season, there's a lot more to play for. You never want a loss to cause a second loss, and you don't want a win that you get so caught up in the moment you don't get past it. So we had to quickly refocus.

That was one of those really rewarding moments in coaching that you can share something like that with your team in the locker room. It's just real genuine emotion. Kids were hugging each other. Felt very fortunate to be with that group.

Q. Can you take away anything from the close performance against Louisville a year ago that might help on Saturday?
COACH CLAWSON: I mean, the last two years we've played well against them. Two years ago we went into the fourth quarter with a lead. Last year we certainly had an opportunity to win the game if we don't turn the ball over so many times in the fourth quarter.

But I think every year is a new year, every team is a new team. Certainly the level they are playing at this year is beyond what we've faced the past two years. They certainly weren't as settled at quarterback two years ago. Last year, Lamar Jackson was just getting going a little bit. He was more of a running threat. He wasn't the complete quarterback that he is now.

We try to never talk about the past in terms of how someone does against someone or how we did a year ago because every year is a new year.

Again, we have great respect for these guys. Obviously with their record and their production, their ranking, they have earned all of it. They're a complete football team.

Our guys here are smart. They can watch the film and they know how good these guys are. By the same token, I think we're a better football team, too. So this will be a great test and a great challenge for us. But I think it's one our guys are looking forward to.

Q. Is there something you did particularly well on defense last weekend that you need to do as well or even better against this challenge?
COACH CLAWSON: Last week winning the turnover margin 3-0 was huge. If we don't win the turnover battle, we probably don't win the football game.

In the games that we have won the turnover battle, it's really helped us. We won the turnover battle 5-0 against Indiana, 3-0 against Virginia. We're not an offense that's going to go up and down the field and score 50 points. So for us, taking care of the football, making sure we make first downs, giving them a long field is critical.

If we turn the ball over and give them a short field, it will get ugly pretty quick. We've got to play really well on offense, play keepaway a little bit. By the same token on defense, if we can generate turnovers, get third down stops, that's going to be really, really important for us.

Q. What does it mean for you to become bowl eligible? Is it a turning point that you guys are moving forward?
COACH CLAWSON: I don't think as a coach you ever feel there's a turning point. I feel you're always working to get better, always working to improve. Any time you declare, Here is the turning point, you're going to be in trouble because it's going to go back in a hurry.

This certainly represents a step in our program that I believed we could take this year. There's still a lot more football to play. We just got to make sure we're getting better every week. Again, I say it all the time, that's coach speak, but that's real.

Hopefully, you know, becoming bowl eligible is now motivation to take that next step. Our ultimate goal here isn't just to become a team that becomes bowl eligible. But you start out every season with that being a minimum goal, then you build from that. For the first time in a long time we've hit that goal.

We want to go out every day in practice and get better. We've had two good days of practice and preparation for the game this week. We've got to have another great day tomorrow. Just make sure we're always doing things to push this program forward.

Q. What do you have to do this weekend to improve on? Anything you saw last week that needs to be fixed?
COACH CLAWSON: Yeah, I mean, we need to have a little bit more balance on offense. We didn't throw the ball very much last week. I mean, fortunately we ran it well. We ran the ball for over 200 yards. That helped us. But this is a team that certainly will load up on you, they'll out-number you, and they're really good in the secondary. We're going to have to be more balanced on offense than we were a week ago.

Certainly on defense you have to limit big plays. These guys score so quickly, make so many explosive plays. Some of it comes from within the design of the offense. Then when things break down, it becomes even more dangerous.

That's the difficulty in defending them, they have such a good scheme, it's so well thought out, they're good within the scheme of their offense. But when things break down, that's when he makes his Heisman plays. He makes people miss, jumps over people, runs away from everybody on a defense. That's the challenge. You don't have to defend the play that's called, but then the secondary play that happens when he starts running around.

Q. Your defense has played pretty consistently throughout the season. Can you talk about a few of the standouts on that side of the ball for you.
COACH CLAWSON: I think we've got a handful of guys. Certainly one standout at every position. Josh Banks, our senior fifth-year defensive tackle is playing more consistently than he ever has. He is really starting to become a good player. Duke Ejiofor is having a great year. Marquel Lee at linebacker. Jessie Bates at safety. Those four guys are having great seasons for us.

Other guys are stepping up, as well. Certainly Wendell Dunn. We're playing a lot of guys. We play between 18 and 20 guys every game. Those four our five guys have really stuck out and become really high-level players in the ACC.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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