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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 14, 2018

Dave Clawson

Greensboro, North Carolina

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson.

COACH CLAWSON: We're looking forward to host Pitt after a good win over NC State last week. And it's our last home game of the year and senior day and that's always a big emotional day. And on top of it, we play a Pitt football team that really, since October, is playing some great football.

They're 4-1. Their only loss has been five points to Notre Dame. They're just clicking on all cylinders right now. Their offensive rushing production -- they have two backs that will probably end up with over a thousand yards when the year's over.

They're extremely difficult to get ready for, with all of their unbalanced and shifts and formations and speed sweeps. And defensively, like any Pat Narduzzi-coached team, they're very physical, very tough, they run to the football. They're very aggressive. They force you to make plays on the perimeter, and they're playing great football. So we're going to have a great challenge with Pitt this weekend.

Q. Just to speak on the bounce-back of your team. I know you took a loss at Syracuse and were able to bounce back against NC State. You still have life for the bowl season. Just what you can say about being where you are at right now through all the adversity and being on the positive side of things as you head into this matchup.
COACH CLAWSON: Well, I mean, I think a lot of times, when we get asked questions here, it's always big picture-wise. And I think as football coaches we focus on the week to week. And for us it was good to get a win after not playing well against Syracuse.

And obviously Syracuse played very well against us. We didn't play well enough to win. And our focus was on just getting a win.

And our focus isn't on trying to get to a bowl or trying to get to six. Our focus is on trying to play well and compete with an excellent Pitt football team. I mean, these guys are, whatever, 5-1 in the conference, and right now have a great chance to win the Coastal and they're playing really good football.

And if we get caught up in trying to get to a bowl or a number and not focus on Pitt, then we're not going to get to where we want to get to.

These guys are just so good right now and playing at such a high level that it's going to be a really hard -- it's going to be a tough football game for us.

Q. Looking at your quarterback, Jamie Newman, just what you can say about what he's been able to do. You've had a bunch of different quarterbacks while you've been the head coach at Wake Forest. What has he shown you on film and on and off the field leadership-wise up to this point?
COACH CLAWSON: I give Jamie a lot of credit for just hanging in there. I mean, he was competing to be our starting quarterback, and he got hurt in our last scrimmage of preseason camp and then wasn't healthy for three weeks. And then finally got healthy, and he played really well against Notre Dame. Then he got hurt again.

And then he wasn't healthy for another two or three weeks, was very limited with what he can do. And he's really healthy for the first time all year. And it was fortunate for us that when Sam got hurt, it was really the first time all season that Jamie had been healthy.

And so he showed a lot of poise on Thursday. He didn't turn the football over. He made plays with his feet and he played really well. But at that position in this conference, with the defenses we see, the challenge is to do it week after week after week with some consistency. And so he did it last week. Now we've got to turn around and do it again against a team that's really good.

Q. What about your defense impressed you the most in that win last week?
COACH CLAWSON: Well, we did some things that we really haven't done all year. And we got lined up correctly. There were not too many plays -- you're never going to be perfect -- but for the most part we got aligned. We defended the run and we did not allow explosive plays. I think we gave up one play over 30 yards. And those three things, up until that game, we really haven't done well this year.

We had had trouble getting aligned. We haven't defended the run well and we gave up a lot of big points. And the thing with our defense, we've got to get aligned. You've got to, especially this week against Pitt, getting aligned is a challenge. I mean, they run more bunches and unbalanced and all those different speed sweeps they have. And they've got two excellent backs and a quarterback that's playing well. And if you can't get a line against these guys, you don't have a shot because they'll find the one formation that you're not sound against and then they'll just rip you.

And if you don't fit things correctly, they know it and they're so good at what they do. Their offensive coordinator, Shawn Watson, his scheme is really well thought out. Their offensive line coach, Dave Borbely, is doing an outstanding job with their front. And this is a really good football team that's well-coached, that probes you in every way. And whatever you're not prepared for, that's what they're going to major in.

Q. Where has Pitt has gotten better over this winning streak that they've been on compared to maybe earlier in the season?
COACH CLAWSON: Well, I think they've really found their identity in terms of what they want to be. And they're very much a blue-collar, hard-nosed, tough football team. And I think their offensive style represents that.

They're somewhat like BC in terms of the sets they run and the physicalness in which they try to run. Defensively, I think they're playing really well. They're very aggressive and they have a well-thought-out third down kind of nickel/dime package.

And for some teams it takes a while, that you think you're a certain way and then as you play the first few games of the season, you maybe develop or evolve in a way that you didn't expect. But then you find your identity and it's better later than never.

And I think Pitt found out who they are and what they do well and they're really good at it. Again, we've spent a lot more time looking at film the last month as opposed to September. We've seen all the film. But I just think that they've found an identity and they've stuck to it.

And what they're doing in the running game the last three weeks, I mean, it's scary, how well the backs are playing and how well the front is playing. And the quarterback is very underrated. He makes a lot of good decisions for them, and I just think their offensive coordinator is really well thought out, and they know exactly what they're doing and how they want to attack you.

Q. Pitt rushed for a bunch of yards last week. I mean almost 500. Last week you guys were able to hold NC State under 50 yards rushing, I think. What's changed about your run defense from kind of game to game? I think Syracuse was able to run the ball pretty well against you all, but, like I said, last week you guys did that pretty good. And how do you keep that play up against Pitt?
COACH CLAWSON: It's going to be hard. And, again, NC State is a team that kind of uses the run to set up the pass with Finley and Harmon and some of their receivers. NC State was a team that ran the ball, but they were primarily, I think, a throwing team in terms of they're a team that throws the ball for over 300 yards a game.

Pitt comes in with no pretenses about what they want to be. I mean, they're going to line up with a fullback, they're going to line up with tight ends. They run some spread stuff. But they're primarily a downhill football team. And so you're not going to hold them to 40 yards. I mean, it's just not going to happen.

What you have to try to do with Pitt is limit their big explosive runs. When the game's over, they're going to have yardage. But we've got to try to keep things in front of us and not let it become the explosive runs that they've been able to get the last two or three weeks.

Q. The other question, you've turned to Jamie Newman at quarterback. Is there any difference between him and Sam Hartman in terms of what they can do on the field? And is there some things that Jamie allows (inaudible) to do that you couldn't do with Sam?
COACH CLAWSON: Jamie's a little bigger. He's 6'4", 235. He's a good athlete. We run similar plays. How they develop with Jamie might be a little bit different than how they develop with Sam. I mean, every quarterback is a little bit unique with their skill set.

But we're not running a different offense or calling plays much differently. When Sam would scramble, he's not as big as Jamie and would try to make people miss. And Jamie, at his height and size, he has the ability at times to lower his shoulder and run people over. Other than that, I think they're somewhat similar.

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