AFLAC KICKOFF GAME: CLEMSON VS. GEORGIA

August 31, 2024

Cade Klubnik

Peter Woods

Clemson Tigers

Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Press Conference

Georgia 34, Clemson 3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Coach Swinney said he was proud of you after the game, not only the way you fought and played, but your remarks in the locker room, your leadership. What were some of the things you said?

CADE KLUBNIK: First thing I said was, for the guys in that room, when they leave Clemson one day, I want those guys, the only thing that they remember me as is somebody that never quit on 'em. I hope that they remember that right now, and I hope they remember that last year when we're sitting 4-4. Never quit on them. I'll never quit on them now. I told them when I show up on Monday, I'm going to show up with more energy than I ever had in my entire life, show up like we haven't even played a game yet. I said I'll never quit on this team, challenged them to never quit on this team and each other.

At the end of the day, it's one game. We got a long season ahead. We're going to flush this and learn from it and go get better, just challenge them not to quit on me. I won't quit on them because I'm never quitting on them.

Great week next week, great season.

Q. Peter, looked pretty comfortable out there on the edge. Great first half. How good did it feel to play out there?

PETER WOODS: It felt good. I've done it before. It's not really my first time ever doing it. Just kind of working the game plan, the stuff the coaches had for me to do. Just kind of worked out that way.

Q. Why do you think y'all had so much success in the first half stopping their offense, kind of got away from you in the second half?

PETER WOODS: Credit to Georgia, they're a great team. Just like Cade said, we got to come out Monday. We'll watch it on tape, see what happened schematically. At the end of the day, you know what I'm saying, we got to fight, finish. It's a long season ahead.

There's no hope for a better yesterday, but there's hope for us to do something about it tomorrow and the day after that and the days to come. That's kind of how we're approaching that.

Q. Cade, what will you attribute the offensive struggles to?

CADE KLUBNIK: I mean, I can't really put my finger on it exactly. I thought we had a pretty good first half in terms of moving the football. Then it would be penalty, penalty when we really can't have it. Third down conversions. Moving the ball, hit the backside hook outside to Antonio. Penalty. Big third down right there. We're getting in the red zone, we're marching.

Just shooting ourselves in the foot, so... They're a great team. I think we have a great offense. I think we're going to be able to do some really good things this year. Just continue to fine-tune the details.

But I think we did some good stuff today, Phil ran it really hard today, made some great cuts. Protection, I feel like I had a lot of time back there. Just got to take advantage of the opportunities when they come.

Q. Turnovers were problematic for y'all last year. Must be a positive that you didn't put the ball on the ground against that defense. The interception...

CADE KLUBNIK: Unbelievable play. Saw TB, kinda had a yard on him and let it out there. Guy did a great job kind of pushing Tyler to the sideline. One of the best plays I've seen since I played at Clemson. Kind of tip the hat to that kid right there.

Yeah, I mean, I thought we did a great job obviously handling the football and taking care of it. Other than that, I don't think we even had a turnover all night other than the fourth down stop, if you want to count that.

I thought we did a pretty good job taking care of the ball. Just got to take advantage of opportunities when they're there.

Q. What are your thoughts on the upcoming week with a competitive team, night game at Death Valley, flush this away? What are your thoughts on what to expect next Saturday night?

PETER WOODS: Like I said to y'all before, the standard is still the standard. Just like I said, playoff ready game one. Now it's playoff ready game two. We're going to approach it with the same intensity as if we were going to play the No. 1 team in the nation like we did this past weekend. That's the mindset we had in the locker room. The conversation we had, We took this one to the chin, but I'm just going to keep saying it. There's no hope for a better yesterday, but we can do something about it tomorrow. That's what we plan to do, just come out here with focus, intensity, and get ready to have a great week of practice and a great game on Saturday.

CADE KLUBNIK: Show up Monday ready to go. That's kind of all I have.

Q. Peter, you guys held Georgia to six points in the first half, then gave up 28 in the second. What did Georgia change that led to that offensive explosion?

PETER WOODS: Like I said, we just got to go and watch the tape on Monday, see where we slipped up. Credit to Georgia, too. They're a great team. They're not robots just like we're not robots. They made some adjustments in the second half that kind of give them the edge over us in the second half.

Credit to them. There's always little things and big things, too, that we can do to be better on that side of the ball. We played our hearts out. We're going to come back and we're going to punch it, fight, we're not giving up, we're not quitting. That's not in our DNA.

Q. Cade, there were a couple times that your receivers lost the ball, it was in the air. Any kind of explanation or what they saw on those plays?

CADE KLUBNIK: Which ones specifically?

Q. Antonio in the end zone, the flag went out. Early on to Cole when he was going down field, it looked like he had a bit of space.

CADE KLUBNIK: Yeah, first one to Tone, he said he lost it in the lights. Lights come shining down. It was a great play. It was definitely there. That one kind of sucked to not hit. We had him exactly where we wanted him. Tone ran a great route. Just kind of lost it in the air. Definitely wish we had that one back. Missed opportunity.

The one to Cole, yeah, I just don't think he was expecting it. Yeah, that's kind of all I heard from that.

Q. Cade, the fourth and one in the first half, there was miscommunication. What happened on that one?

CADE KLUBNIK: Yeah, it was just my fault. Kind of honestly didn't understand what he was thinking. We just weren't on the same page. I didn't know he was going to take a delay of game, was really the thing. In that instance, I'm thinking, Let's not block ourselves up anymore.

It wasn't too big of a deal in the long run. Just kind of letting him handle those. I kind of just saw the clock at one. My instinct was to call timeout because I don't want to whatever, so...

Yeah, it was fine. I won't do that again, yeah. I didn't know he wanted to -- it wasn't that big of a deal, so...

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys.