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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 16, 2016

Dave Clawson

Greensboro, North Carolina

DAVE CLAWSON: We're looking forward to get back home this week and play one of the very best teams in the country in Clemson. They're having another outstanding year, explosive on offense, very athletic and talented on defense, and it will be another great challenge for us two weeks in a row of playing one of the very best teams in the country.

So we're looking forward to being on national TV at 7:00 and being back at home.

Q. Coach, I remember back in Charlotte for ACC Media Days, you spoke to trying to close that gap between Clemson, Florida State, Louisville. You played the 'Noles and Cardinals pretty close. Do you feel like you've got a team that can compete with that upper crust of the league?
DAVE CLAWSON: I feel like we've competed with them, but we haven't been able to beat them. Our goal is not to be able to compete, but to win those games. Every game this year that we've been in has been a competitive game. We've won six games, and the other four, we had the lead or certainly a chance to win the football game in the fourth quarter.

So we're making progress, but I certainly can't say that we're over the hump yet because we haven't found a way to win those games.

Q. In some ways, do you have to learn how to be in those close games before you have maybe a veteran group learn how to win them?
DAVE CLAWSON: I think the progress we've made this year is that in those tight games we're, I think, 5-2, and last year we were 2-5. So we've learned, I think, to win close games and find ways to win games in the fourth quarter, but we haven't been able to do that against what I would call the elite teams in our conference right now, in our division. That is the step that we want to take, and this week is another challenge -- another opportunity to try to do that.

Q. Dave, just seeing this story here that's in the Winston-Salem Journal about concerns that you had about a potential security breach of your game plan last week. Specifically, what concerns do you have that made you think that your game plan might have ended up with them?
DAVE CLAWSON: Well, there somehow was a breach, and I've shared it with our AD, and we are trying to figure out what happened and how it happened.

Q. Do you know for sure whether Louisville ended up with the game plan?
DAVE CLAWSON: Again, I'll just leave it alone at that comment, and we're trying to figure out what happened and how it happened. We're looking at all of -- we're looking at things internally first to find out how information could have been gotten out of our office. Again, I'll leave it at that.

Q. One more followup, if I could. In your statement to the newspaper, you said you're going to do everything you can to make sure your information is more secure moving forward. So what types of steps are you taking toward that end for the last few games and maybe moving forward?
DAVE CLAWSON: Well, we just met as a staff, and you think of all the ways, how information could get out, and you make sure that -- you think you're doing that, but when it comes to your attention that maybe you're not doing that as well as you need to be, you take every security measure you can with regard to everything we do. That's with your data, with all your different systems, with your information, and just make sure that everything is secure.

Q. To follow up on that, are you suggesting that Louisville had done something in the wrong at all as far as taking something or spying or stealing or anything?
DAVE CLAWSON: No, just there was some type of breach, and we're trying to figure out how it happened.

Q. Can you say more or less what the documents were that you guys --
DAVE CLAWSON: Again, I really -- I've made a statement on it, and I've shared it with our AD. We're trying to figure out what happened.

Q. So just to clarify, you were saying you don't suspect any wrongdoing on Louisville's part or anything like that?
DAVE CLAWSON: Again, I just -- we're trying to figure out what happened. We're trying to figure out how information got out of our office and our place, and that's where we are with it now. Again, we're trying to figure out how a breach happened, and we're doing everything we can internally to make sure that all of our information that pertains to us stays in-house.

Q. Do you think that had an outcome on the game?
DAVE CLAWSON: Again, I'm not going there.

Q. Good afternoon, Coach. Just to speak on the defensive improvements since the day that you got in to Wake Forest to where you stand today, a lot of the defensive stops you've been able to make this season and some of the statements you've been able to make, just what you can say about your unit there.
DAVE CLAWSON: They've done a heck of a job. We've really done a nice job developing a lot of good players. Duke Ejiofor, Marquel Lee, Brad Watson, Jessie Bates, Josh Banks, I think, are all becoming really good players. I think Mike Elko and our defensive staff and all the coaches do a great job of preparing these guys every week, and they put the players in a position to be successful every single week.

We're executing and playing at a very high level on defense right now, and that has kept us in a lot of games.

Q. What can you say about offensively and some of the things that you're looking for and maybe some of the leadership or guys that you can lean on at this point -- when the defense has done so much, what can you say about the offensive side?
DAVE CLAWSON: The offensive side, I think's improving. We're not turning the ball over as much. We're running a lot better. We're just a lot younger on that side of the ball. When we played Louisville, we had two juniors and nine freshmen and sophomores. It's an improving unit, but it's just a much younger unit than the defense is, and I think on that side of the ball, the leadership is still emerging, whereas on defense, we clearly have leaders and some All-ACC caliber players, and I think those guys on offense are still in the developmental stage.

Q. Coach, you played Number 5 Louisville on the road last week and now have to face Number 4 Clemson at home. The ACC schedule makers haven't done you any favors, have they?
DAVE CLAWSON: No. We were hoping to get out to Alabama in between the two games, but we couldn't get that one scheduled.

Q. Good comeback, Coach. That was excellent. Coach, what's the one thing you have to do on offense and defense to beat the Tigers?
DAVE CLAWSON: I think on defense they have so many explosive play makers. Their quarterback, their running back, their receivers look like a college all-star team. They're good up front, and their tight end is a very underrated weapon. I don't know if he's underrated. He's one of the best tight ends in the country. Defensively, they graduated a lot of good players and had guys leave, but they just seem to reload.

This Dexter Lawrence as a true freshman is one of the best defensive tackles we've faced all year. Carlos Watkins is an excellent player. The linebackers are very good. They're young in the secondary, but they're very athletic. And Tankersley is an excellent corner, Johnson, the safety, are older, but other than that, they're playing younger guys. They're just so athletic.

They do a great job with their scheme. They're very disruptive. They don't sit still a lot. Again, they're talented. They're well coached. Dabo's done a great job recruiting, and their coordinators on both sides of the ball get excellent plans every week. So it's going to be a big challenge for us.

Q. Coach, last question and thank you for your time. A little historical reference. Admiral Yamamoto said, after he found out Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack, we awoke a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve. After Clemson's loss, are you afraid you'll face the same type of team Saturday in Winston-Salem that's coming with a terrible resolve?
DAVE CLAWSON: I think, if Clemson wins this week, they go to the ACC Championship game. So I think, if you look at what they've done in the regular season over the past two years -- what are they, 21-1? This is a great football team. A team is not going to be perfect every week, and they played a Pitt team that played extremely well, and they almost won that game.

So Clemson has always been ready to play for our game, and Dabo's had those guys ready every week. It's hard to be perfect, but I'm sure they have a lot to play for, and we know we'll get their best.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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