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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 1, 2017

Dave Clawson

Greensboro, North Carolina

DAVE CLAWSON: We had a really good win for our program last Saturday against Louisville, and not a lot of time to enjoy it.

You turn the page, and now you're playing one of the very best football teams in the entire country. Notre Dame is 7-1. They are ranked third in the College Football Playoff standings. They have lost one game to Georgia and their other seven games that they have won their average margin of victory is 28 points, and the closest game was a 28-point win over Michigan State.

They are really -- offensively, they are a complete offense. They average 40 points, 470 yards almost 320 a game on the ground and defensively they are extremely well-coached. They don't let you run the ball and they create turnovers.

So this will be just another -- this is just another week in our schedule that just seems it's good team after good team after good team and we embrace that challenge and we are looking forward to the trip to South Bend.

Q. How would you compare the Lamar Jackson that you saw last year with this year?
DAVE CLAWSON: He gets better every year. He can make every throw. He recognizes coverage quickly. I think he's even become more accurate, and his athleticism and his ability to escape the pocket and make people miss is, I mean, I don't even know who to compare him to. It's such a unique skill set.

He's one of those guys that for the whole entire 60 minutes of the game, your heart is in your throat every time he has the ball in his hands because at any point he can make an 80-yard play. He's a tremendous player and a great competitor, and we never, ever felt safe in that game because of him.

Q. Defensively, where does he sort of -- what does he do to defenses that sort of stresses them a little bit more this time around?
DAVE CLAWSON: I don't know if it's more. It's just they are so hard to defend because they have this zone read, power read scheme that they can create extra gaps with their tight ends, and you know, you've got to be gap-sound. But at the same point, there's times that he can just out-run your defense. So you can have a hat for him and someone assigned to him that he just makes them miss, and then when you defend that stuff, a lot of times it makes you a little susceptible in the secondary against a quarterback who can make every throw and receivers who can get open. They are just a really, really tough out on their offense.

Q. What are the keys with your run defense to try to contain Notre Dame this week?
DAVE CLAWSON: I mean, I think ultimately, you have to stay in your gaps. You have to fit runs correctly. You have to tackle well. And that's your challenge every week. It's not every week, though, that you face the calibre of an offensive line that Notre Dame is or the calibre of a back that Adams is.

I mean, every week, no matter who you play, you've got to be gap-sound and your backers have to be able to fit different runs and different backfield sets and different motions, and you've got to tackle.

But the better the team you play is, obviously those assignments become more difficult and that's where Notre Dame is exceptional. They have a running back with close to 1,200 yards that averages almost nine yards a carry, and this is certainly, if not "the," certainly up there as the most physical offensive sign that we've played in our four years here.

They have got a number of exceptional players on their offensive line, and it's a very well-coached, physical, technique-sound; they are really, really good up front.

Q. Do you think your run defense has improved from September to October?
DAVE CLAWSON: I mean, I think, you know, certainly players have improved, and you know, every week is different challenges. Last week we fit the runs very well and we kind of made it a throw game and we didn't hold up as well against the pass as I would like but we did hold up in the base run game pretty well. At Georgia Tech, we struggled at times but I think we're a work-in-progress, but we've certainly at times played stuff very well and at times we've misfit stuff (ph).

Q. I know there's some tough injuries that you guys are going through on offense. Who are some guys that you are hoping to maybe step up and play bigger roles this week?
DAVE CLAWSON: Well, at receiver, I mean, we're fortunate. Tabari Hines is a good player. Tabari Hines has started for over two years here. He's made a lot of plays for us. You know, I certainly feel bad for Greg, and I feel bad for our program. Greg was having a great year, but Tabari Hines is a good player. You know, he'll step up, I have no doubt.

And Scotty Washington probably had his best game of his career the other day; and Chuck Wade can make plays; and Cam Serigne, we got him more involved; and with Cade Carney down, Matt Colburn will get a lot more opportunity, and he did a great job for us on Saturday, as well.

So it's part of football. It happens. We've actually this year up until now been very fortunate with that. It hits everybody. It hit us late but it hit us severely. But I think right now, we have recruited and have established much better depth this year that we are better prepared to handle that this year than we have ever been before.

Q. How difficult will it be for you to look across the other sideline and see Coach Elko there after what you guys were able to do while he was at Wake Forest?
DAVE CLAWSON: Well, it's not just at Wake Forest. I hired Mike at Fordham when he was 23 years old, and he was with me at every stop: Fordham, Richmond, Bowling Green and Wake Forest. And Mike is a great coach. He's a good person. You know, we're still very good friends. We won't talk this week, but I have great respect for Mike.

You know, we're both professionals. I think this week, we want to beat Notre Dame and Notre Dame wants to beat Wake Forest. And when it's over, you know, I'm sure we'll have a good talk.

But it's mixed emotions. Mike did a great job here and everywhere he's been for me, but on the other hand, I'm really proud of the job he's doing there. He's had a huge, huge impact on their program in just not even a full year.

Again, proud of him, but I'm hoping this week that they maybe have a bunch of breakdowns and they don't look as good.

Q. You played this year at Clemson, certainly one of the toughest venues in the country. Now you go to another iconic place, Notre Dame. How do you get players to tune out their surroundings when they are on the road like that, especially at places like Clemson and Notre Dame, and can they always be successful in doing that?
DAVE CLAWSON: Well, I think it's better with older teams; that we are starting to become -- we don't have a lot of seniors but we have a lot of red-shirt juniors and red-shirt sophomores.

In this conference and this league, you play in a lot of great environments. Clemson is very loud; Florida State; NC State has a great following; the Georgia Tech environment was great, and Notre Dame, most of our players have played there before. We played there in 2015. It's playing football in the ACC, and that's part of the challenge and part of the reward and the attraction of coming to Wake Forest and the ACC is you get to play in these environments.

So our players are looking forward to it. Certainly Notre Dame is one of the most historic venues in all of college football, and the history and tradition there is one of the greatest in the country.

But for our players, it's about us. It's about what we want to accomplish this year and what we need to get done on the football field and what we need to execute. You certainly recognize where you're going and who you're playing, but when it comes down to it, once the ball is kicked off, it's playing football, and we've got to be locked into our assignments and situation and situational football, and to know what we're doing and in order to execute well in order to have a chance to win.

Q. They certainly went through an uncharacteristic season last year, I think 4-8. What has enabled them to swing things around 180 degrees like that?
DAVE CLAWSON: Well, they hired two guys from Wake Forest. So I think that's what happened.

Q. I forgot about that.
DAVE CLAWSON: No, they are playing good football. They are creating turnovers. They are making plays on offense. They are a physical O-line. They have got good players, goo schemes, good coaches. They are a good football team.

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