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CLEMSON UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 10, 2018

Dabo Swinney

Boston, Massachusetts

Clemson - 27, Boston College - 7

DABO SWINNEY: Okay, man, just tough hard-fought game. Knew it would be coming up here. BC has got a heck of a football team. Really hate that their quarterback got hurt. I hope he's okay. I told Coach that after the game. Man, they're a huge challenge.

Just really proud of our guys, the preparation that we had. Had a really good opening drive, and they did a good job on us in the red zone. We had to kick a couple field goals. Wish we could have converted those for touchdowns. But I like how we started as far as offensively and defensively.

The big play in the first half for them was obviously the punt return. We just kind of relaxed. Had two guys there to make a tackle, and I think it hit one of our guys, and I think they just kind of relaxed. But that was disappointing, and then we missed a couple of plays -- we had two or three plays with some guys open on some deep balls, but hey, a cold, windy night, not quite as precise on a couple of things as we would have liked to have been, but man, they're a stout defense.

So I'm proud of our guys, 420 something yards, tough yards, and I'm really proud of Trevor. Really proud of Trevor. He's a true freshman, and to come up here in this environment and really lead us -- you know, he had a few misses and a few mistakes. Obviously didn't get the 1st down one time. That cost us an opportunity to maybe go get some points. But he's continuing to learn and grow and get better every week.

This was a big-time game for him, and then defensively, they had nine yards rushing. I mean, so part of that, they had a couple of really bad snaps that took a lot of yards off, but our guys were really dialed in. They're a big challenge schematically with all the different bunch sets and the tight ends, and they create angles, and they create extra gaps, and you've got to get the gaps right. You've got to be really disciplined with the play action, and our guys just did an awesome job. I mean, I'm really proud of our defense. I'm giving credit to that D-line.

Again, we had great prep. We tackled well, and Dillon is -- man, he's a 250-pound man coming downhill, and we were able to hold him in check, and that was big for us.

And then when they did get some balls on the edge on us on some of the play action stuff, we were well-positioned, and we were able to come up and make the tackles. They did not have a lot of big plays on us. So just really tremendous.

And then the second half, special teams, we kind of woke up, and we created some field position, which was good, especially in a game like this, and then the punt return was awesome. So that was kind of the dagger. Again, just really proud of our guys for what they've accomplished. Obviously made history tonight.

This group has kind of made history all year. Seems like every week they're doing something that either hasn't ever been done or hasn't been done in a long, long time. It is a real credit to this senior group and this junior group. This is a very focused football team that they believe in their vision. They believe in what they want to go achieve, and they're willing to put the work in, and it's just a joy to be around them every day.

But you know, this was a -- this was just amazing, what they've done. This was their 50th win today. They went 23-1 in division play in their career, went 19-1 on the road in their four-year career. I mean, this is just a special group that's got a lot of experience, and they're leading every single day.

Really cool to get the division win here. Obviously for me, 10 years ago, this was where we got our very first win, and it's kind of cool to have several of those guys here. Several of them are on our staff, Miguel Chavis, Da'Quan Bowers, Xavier Dye, Tyler Grisham, Thomas Austin, those guys are all on our staff now, and then C.J. Spiller was kind of our guest of honor for this trip.

You know, I think back 10 years ago, almost to the day, and that first win, and here we are tonight winning our fourth division title. Man, I just -- first of all, just thankful to the good Lord for giving me the opportunity, and I'm thankful for all the young men that have been in our program the last 10 years that have helped establish a standard and a culture that we enjoy, because that group that came in here in '08, trying to get that first win as an interim guy, they couldn't win a division. They weren't going to win an ACC Championship. But they believed before anybody else did, and they laid it on the line. So I'm forever thankful for that group. And because of them, we are where we are today. So it's really cool to be back here and to achieve this.

And thankful for our fans. Our fans were amazing out there today. I mean, we're a long way from Clemson, and we had an incredible crowd that came here to support us, and I'm just really appreciative of that. We have a very passionate fan base, and I'm excited that they get the opportunity to go back to Charlotte for the ACC Championship game for the fourth year in a row, and I'm thankful to have guys like this. I mean, it's special. Christian, he jokes around all the time, and he has fun, but I'm telling you, this is one of the best leaders I've ever been around. He's passionate about what he does. He's passionate about leading. He's passionate about influencing his teammates, and we were able to get that tight end open today because we faked it to him. He's mad that we didn't hand it to him, but I told him, this thing is going to be wide open. You're the bait.

Anyway, I think we came through pretty healthy. We had a few guys get banged up, tough, physical game. Expected that, but just really proud of our team.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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