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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 13, 2010

Dabo Swinney

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. We will bring on Coach, ask for a brief opening statement and go to questions.
COACH SWINNEY: Good to be with you guys today. We are getting ready to play a Maryland team this week that's playing with a lot of confidence, 4-1, off to an excellent and have had an open date to get ready for us.
So we've had to quickly put that last one to bed. We've had some tough losses here and, you know, trying to get back on the winning track this week. I have been real pleased with our guys. They've had the right attitudes and have practiced the right way. The leadership has been really good. So feel good where we are right now going into this Wednesday practice.
But we're going to have to play a very good football game to beat this team. And what they do offensively, defensively and special teams, they're very sound and very well-coached.

Q. If we could go back to last year for a second, how did you guys all have so much success against Middle Tennessee quarterback Terrell Dasher? What did you guys do?
COACH SWINNEY: We played really good on defense up front, in particular. We got after him up front and, you know, if I remember correctly, we had some success and we scored a lot of points on offense. We had some big plays, kind of kept them off the field.
But I remember very well that ball game, saying, Hey, that guy is a good player. I really felt like they were going to win a lot of games last year and I think they ended up winning ten of them. But for us, we just hit some big plays on them and we kept the ball on offense and played good, tough defense up front.

Q. Having played Georgia Tech twice last season -- and I'm sure you have watched that film quite a few times -- was there anything that they did on offense that you kind of bookmarked and said, "That's something that we should try that would work with our personnel in upcoming games"?
COACH SWINNEY: No.

Q. Three straight games now you have scored 24 points or less. What's kind of the key to getting the offense revved up this week?
COACH SWINNEY: We got to finish some drives, just like in North Carolina. Well, the Miami game we -- you know, we turned it over six times and just didn't make the rhythm. I think down there at Auburn we had an opportunity to win that game. They are a very good team obviously.
Miami, we had the turnovers and then we go up to North Carolina and really put together some good drives. I mean, eight plays, nine plays, ten plays. Had an 11-play drive where we got no points. So we've just got to finish some of our drives a little bit better and focus on every play. Every play is that critical play.
But, you know, we're -- it all starts with our running game. And we've got to be a good running football team to be able to have the success that we want to have this year.
You know, we did not run the ball as well as I would have liked us to at North Carolina. And I think that contributed. And then the biggest thing is we only had the ball for three quarters. Fourth quarter at North Carolina we had the ball one minute and 45 seconds. So we pretty much played three quarters of football. So we got to make sure that we have the possession time. And then when we get it, finish the drives.

Q. I wanted to ask you about pass protection. You guys lead the ACC in sacks against -- or least sacks against. And, yet, it is like one sack for every 30 pass attempts, close to that. What are the factors that made good pass protection? Is that something you expect every year?
COACH SWINNEY: Good players, number one. You got to have good players up front. And, you know, a couple years ago really with the same players, we weren't very good. But they were a bunch of freshmen then. And now we have got a bunch of juniors, veteran guys that have played. We got one senior on our offensive line. But they have played a lot of football.
They just understand, you know, what our problems are and then you have to have a quarterback that's very smart in being able to check certain protections, you know, read defenses, know where his thoughts are, getting rid of the ball, being able to work the pocket effectively, when to step up, when to flush out. All of those things are a part of good pass protection.
We have got a very savvy quarterback that doesn't take very many sacks, and we have an offensive line that's playing very, very well for us. It is a shame our record is not better than what it is right now because our offensive line has been the most consistent group on our football team. And hopefully that will continue. They're doing a good job and they take a lot of pride in our pass protection, and that's going to have to stay that way for us to get back on track.

Q. Is it a different skill set for an offensive lineman, the guys that are good in pass protection aren't necessarily good in run?
COACH SWINNEY: No, no, no, no. We have got a good running football team. So our guys are doing a good job, run, blocking and pass protection. Andre Ellington is near the top of the league, and we are pretty good at rushing the football.
So we have the skill set to do both, but you look for certain things. There is no doubt about it. If you are a balanced football team, you have to be able to do both. But your tackles, you would like for those guys to be long and they got to be athletic, be able to really move their feet and redirect because you see so much speed coming off the edge. And then your guards, those are big, powerful guys that can -- they got to be able to handle those 300-plus pounders that play nose tackle and three technique.
So you are looking for size, mass, footwork, athleticism. And, you know, we've got a bunch of guys on our offensive line that are just good players and take a lot of pride. They're well-coached and know what they're doing.

Q. Just wondering what the difficulties were in defending a back like Johnny White who runs so hard and catches the ball so well coming out of the back field?
COACH SWINNEY: Well, that was one of the frustrating things about that game, is that's -- we did an excellent job of rush defense. I mean, I think they only rushed for, like, 90 yards the whole game and most of that came right there at the end of the game. So we did a good job. It is the best we have done all year against the rush.
And, you know, it was our best game total offense. They had 255 yards total offense. And you lose the game. That was the very frustrating part of it because we did some of the things we felt like we needed to do to win the game and yet lost.
A lot is attributed to all the penalties that we had. We had a bunch of penalties. But Johnny White is a guy, he had the big touchdown run against us and he broke a tackle. I mean, he is a powerful back. He runs very, very well behind his pads. He's quicker than you would think. And he runs -- he runs determined. He is a very determined runner.
So you've got to wrap him up to get him tackled and the one big play he had on the 26-yard touchdown. We had a guy come in and just hit him hard, but he didn't wrap up. Johnny bounced off and he kept his feet. He's got good balance. So he is a good back.
I said that going into the game. I thought he was as good as anybody we played. I still feel the same. I think we did a good job for the most part in the game.

Q. You alluded earlier to your running game. I was wondering, do you have a specific plan as to how you use Ellington or Harper or do you go with the hot hand kind of situation?
COACH SWINNEY: Well, Andre is the starter. We came into the season with -- based on where they were in practice because both of them have had great camps and really played well. Jamie was the leading rusher in the first game. And they will get tired and tap themselves out and rotate, and we were kind of trying to keep it fairly balanced.
But over the last couple games, Andre Ellington has been more productive. So he'll have more opportunities to touch the ball moving forward. Now, that doesn't mean Jamie is not going to play. Jamie Harper has to play and help us win. He has just got to be a little more productive with his touches than he has been in the last couple games.
So this game will be more slanted toward Andre Ellington, and we'll go from there.

Q. When you have two guys like that, is it tough to juggle in playing time to keep a rhythm? Some guys -- I don't know if either one of your two guys are -- need to carry the ball 20, 25 times to get that rhythm and get into the game.
COACH SWINNEY: Most teams nowadays, they play more than one back. But I think Andre is a guy that with whatever reps he gets, he's productive. Whether it is 14 or it is 25 or whatever, he has just been very productive. And that's the main thing to me, is the guy that's producing the most should get the most opportunities.
You know, we went into it with an idea of, "hey, let's keep it balanced" because we felt like they were both performing well. And, you know, I do think that if you get in the game and one of them gets the hot hand, even if it is Jamie, then that's who you go with. So everything can change at any time.
But we'll go into it this week with our plan, making sure that Ellington is the featured guy.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for being with us.

End of FastScripts

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