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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 27, 2017

Dave Clawson

Greensboro, North Carolina

DAVE CLAWSON: We were very fortunate to escape last Saturday. It was a great college football game, and two teams that played extremely hard. It was one of those games that came down to the last play, and we were very fortunate that it worked out for us. I was proud of our players.

Thought we played hard for 60 minutes. Did not always play as efficiently or as clean as we would like. Made a bunch of mistakes. But certainly the effort was there and that allowed to keep us in the game and eventually win it.

Moving forward, we have one of the premier programs in all of college football coming to town on Saturday. Florida State is one of the best programs in the country. They are extremely talented across the board offensively and defensively. They're good in the kicking game. They're an excellently coached football team. Jimbo's one of the best offensive strategists in all of football, and their defense is extremely well-coached. They're fast, they're physical.

It's going to be a great challenge for our football team that these guys are -- again, this is the last few years, certainly our next two games have been the class of the ACC and in some ways all of college football. So this is a great opportunity for our team to be at home and to host a team of the caliber of Florida State.

Q. To look at Wolford and what he's done in these first four games and playing on without an interception in the first four games. How you've seen him excel and develop in his time there, and to not have an interception as he moves forward?
DAVE CLAWSON: Our first two years here was a major problem that we were turning the ball over and not getting it turned over and going into the last year.

We just continually stress in practice and devote time to working on turnover margin, both on offense protecting the football and securing it in traffic. You know, you want your quarterback to play aggressive, but also to be smart. There are times to take chances and times that you maybe don't want to try to fit it in a tight window.

I think John has learned that very well. And I think as we improve on the perimeter, guys are getting more open maybe than they have the first two years and last year. So John has certainly improved, but I think probably as importantly, we've improved around him. We've been able to protect him a little bit better this year, and the receivers are getting open a little better. And all those things have to happen in order for a quarterback to be effective.

Q. On the other side of the ball obviously defense has been the key for you since coming to Wake Forest, and the team has consistently improved in that respect. Just what you can say you've seen out of the defense this year as compared to what you expect out of them moving forward?
DAVE CLAWSON: Well, I've said this many times, we were very fortunate that we inherited a number of good defensive players when we got here. Played good defense for the first three years and we have three new coaches on defense now. What we do is very similar and there are some different changes. In some spots we got a little younger where guys graduated. We'll see.

I'm happy with how we're playing. I think kids are playing hard. It's still obviously not mistake free. We gave up a number of plays on Saturday that sometimes put us in a tough position. Obviously, the skillset that we're going to face this Saturday is a whole other level up from what we've seen the first four weeks. So we're playing well, but we're going to get challenged, very much so this Saturday with skill level of Florida State.

Q. As you look at your own defensive line, do you feel like you've got a group that can maybe take advantage of some of Florida State's offensive line issues this week?
DAVE CLAWSON: Well, I don't look at Florida State offensive line having issues. I think they're really, really good. They average 315, they're very well-coached, they're physical. Florida State has played maybe two of the best defenses in the whole country the first two weeks with Alabama-North Carolina State. North Carolina State has maybe more draftable kids that play up front for them, and I think everybody knows what Alabama's like. They won against two defensive lines, and I think any offensive line in the country would have had ups and downs against. We've improved on the D-line. We have more depth than we've had. I think we have good players, but I think -- I don't look at Florida State's offensive line and say, boy, that's a weakness.

I think when this year's over, I think people will say that's a really good offensive line that they have. I just think the sample size of two games and who they've played, I think most offensive lines in the country would have struggled against those two groups.

Q. You have a pretty good feel about how good your pass rush is this year?
DAVE CLAWSON: Well, I mean, we've played a bunch of games here that we haven't played a lot of traditional teams that drop back. The first week we played really an option team that was 1AA. They didn't drop back and throw it. BC used a lot of max protection, kept the tight ends in. They were playing with a young quarterback.

Utah State got rid of the football like two-thirds of the time under two seconds. So the pass-rush didn't have a chance to develop. A lot of what Appalachian did was early down and distances off of play action.

So we've been getting good pressure. Our sack numbers aren't what they've been, but I think a little bit of that is a function of the offenses we've played against. When you play against teams that are going to max protect or get rid of the ball really quickly, you know, it's tough to sack people when it's seven on four or they're getting rid of it in under two seconds.

So Florida State throws the ball a little more traditionally at times, so it will be a good test for our guys this week.

Q. Just talk about Florida State's running backs. I know they lost gavin cook this year, and now they have Patrick and Akers who are very good running backs, Akers a freshman, Patrick a senior. What do you have to do to stop them from having an explosive game?
DAVE CLAWSON: Well, Patrick is a big back. He's 6'3", 235. He's one of those guys that if he gets north and south and gets his shoulders low and square, he's hard to tackle. Akers is just fast. They run this little kind of counter-play that they try to bounce. When that thing gets on the perimeter, his ability to outrun angles, I mean, there are times it appears the defense has the angle on them. He runs right by them.

We did not tackle really well last week, and certainly credit the App's backs, but we did not tackle as well as we needed to. If we don't tackle better than those two guys, it's going to be a long day. Certainly Dalvin Cook was one of the best backs we've ever faced. But these two guys are both high, high level ACC backs.

Q. I know Florida State's 0-2. How dangerous is an 0-2 squad compared to a team that's undefeated? They're still a very good squad?
DAVE CLAWSON: They're still Florida State. Again, I read somewhere that statistically they've played the toughest two games in the country. Alabama and N.C. State are both high-level programs. They're Florida State. You turn on the film and what people miss in the Alabama game, that was a 10-7 game until late in the third quarter Alabama blocked a punt and Florida State mishandled a pickoff, and Florida State threw a pick in two minutes.

But they were toe to toe with a chance to win the game against the No. 1 team in the country until those things happened. So I think it's just the nature of the coaches. You look at an opponent and see the skill level, the talent, you know how good they are and how good they will be. When this season's over, this Florida State team, they're going to win a lot of games.

So they're really good, really talented. I don't look at their record. I know who they've played, and I know what they're capable of. Again, this is a premier program. When this year's done, they're still going to be right there. We've just got to hope that we can play well this week.

Q. Well, good luck this week.
DAVE CLAWSON: Thank you.

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