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COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SEMIFINAL AT THE CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL: CLEMSON VS OKLAHOMA

December 29, 2015

Eric Mac Lain

Miami Gardens, Florida

ERIC MAC LAIN: It had nothing to do with the coaches, honestly. I love the passion and drive Coach Swinney had. Obviously he's a very enthusiastic guy. But really it was just -- the things that I saw with the players, things that I saw with support staff, I saw the potential for greatness was there, and really I just knew if we could bring it all together, we'd be in this position some day, and luckily it came my senior year.

Q. And to be a dynasty you've got to win it all?
ERIC MAC LAIN: Exactly, so hopefully this will be the spark plug.

Q. I was over there talking to Shaq. It's no secret Oklahoma is talking a little bit this week. Shaq likes it. He said he enjoys it. I don't know if you've got a take on it. Is it something you enjoy? Does it motivate you?
ERIC MAC LAIN: Yeah, I think it's the game within the game. I love talking a little bit of trash talk. But it can get out of control sometimes. I think that guys maybe go a little bit too far with it. You know, my main thing is to try and get you out of your game. That's what I'm going to try and do. So that plays right into my cards, so that's great. But if 91 wants to talk the whole game, we'll have great conversations.

Q. Going back to Shaq, I heard he took out Coach Venables the other day.
ERIC MAC LAIN: We just heard it. We're on separate fields. I guess he was rolling out or something and Shaq knocked him out, and I'm sure he loved every bit of it. He probably gave Shaq a big hug after hitting him.

Q. How about the match-up for you guys, you mentioned 91. What are you looking at up there?
ERIC MAC LAIN: I think odd fronts are obviously difficult to deal with. I think that they can really disguise things and bring different things from areas maybe you're not used to. We do a great job with preparation. Our coaches do a heck of a job with just making sure that we know everything that they do. The goal is that there will be no surprises on Thursday, and I think that we've done a great job so far, and we're looking forward to it.

Q. Were they running an odd front last year?
ERIC MAC LAIN: Yeah, so they ran that. That's their kind of cup of tea. They ran down four a couple times against Texas and Texas Tech. They've shown a couple things, and I think we're ready for it.

Q. Is there anything you can take from last year?
ERIC MAC LAIN: Not really. I mean, the motivational levels I guess were different. It was a lower-tier bowl. They didn't want to be there is what everyone says. End of the day, athletes don't want to lose, so that only will get you so far. We're just excited to be in this Orange Bowl.

Q. I guess it's safe to say everyone wants to be here.
ERIC MAC LAIN: I hope so.

Q. This time around.
ERIC MAC LAIN: I don't want to hear that excuse ever again.

Q. For a senior, this is the dream. How fortunate do you feel to be in this position?
ERIC MAC LAIN: Without a doubt. All the glory to God for getting me into this situation. I just love that I've been able to do what I can for this team, the leadership role, really trying to guide these young guys and prepare them for where they're going. We always want them to be better than we were, so it's going to be exciting to watch this Clemson dynasty grow.

Q. Have you even been able to think about the finality of this week and hopefully next week? Has that crept in yet?
ERIC MAC LAIN: I don't think so. Coach Swinney does a great job of really making us focus one week at a time, one game at a time, and we can't look too far ahead, but we're just focused on Oklahoma.

Q. What makes this one different?
ERIC MAC LAIN: Just the fact that it's the College Football Playoff. Other than that, we're treating it as just another game. We've been saying that all year. Once you get in the big games, you can finally stop lying to people and saying every game is a big game. But we're just happy to be here and really do our best.

Q. What's been your favorite experience so far?
ERIC MAC LAIN: Probably just hanging out with the guys. We're always at Clemson, always uptight. It's been cool to see everybody just kind of relax, hang out at the beach, go to the games and stuff like that, so it's been cool to just see everybody hang out.

Q. What was it like seeing (inaudible)?
ERIC MAC LAIN: You know, he's an athlete. It's pretty impressive as you guys can tell with his dance moves. He's a phenomenal athlete. Just seeing his competitive drive on the court was pretty cool.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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