Tigers vs Cavaliers: Postgame Notes and Quotes |
Clemson Notes
*C.J. Spiller’s 15-yard touchdown pass in the first half was his first career pass. He threw the touchdown to Tyler Grisham and it was Grisham’s first touchdown reception of the year. *Spiller has now accounted for a touchdown four different ways in his career. He is the fourth player in Clemson history to do that. He joins Chansi Stuckey, Ray Mathews and Jackie Calvert in achieving that distinction. The last time a non-quarterback threw a touchdown pass for Clemson was in 1999 when Tony Lazzara, a kicker did it on a fake field goal against Virginia Tech. *Clemson won the turnover margin stat, 4-1 today and now has a 6-1 advantage in that category over the last two games. Clemson is 4-0 this year when it wins the turnover margin. *Michael Hamlin had an interception today, his 13th as a Clemson Tiger. He is now tied for third with Justin Miller with his 13 interceptions. Combined with his four career fumble recoveries, he now has 17 career turnovers, second in Clemson history. Terry Kinard had 19 between 1979-82 and he is the only player with more than Hamlin. *Clemson won today’s game by scoring just 13 points. It is the fewest points scored by the Tigers in a victory since a 13-9 win at South Carolina in 2005. *James Davis had 65 rushing yards today and needs 203 to become Clemson’s career leader. Aaron Kelly had 30 receiving yards and needs 99 to become Clemson’s all-time leader. Clemson Interim Head Coach Dabo Swinney Quotes Opening Statements “What can you say? It’s a great win. It’s a tough place to come and play. I’m really proud of the players and the staff for what they did on the road. Their style of play kind of lends itself to these types of games. Like I said earlier in the week, they’d love to have a 10-7 game. Unfortunately we stumbled around and missed some key opportunities to really do some damage and maybe get some more points. So that was disappointing, and we hung in there defensively. “Winning the turnover battle was the key for us — being the more physical football team. Our defense absolutely set the tempo early and never let up. We played hard four quarters, had four interceptions. We also had two big fourth down stops. Overall I thought it was a great win offensively. I’m really proud of the guys hanging in there; they’re a good bunch. We gave up no sacks — that was big concern coming into this game. When it came time to take the game over, our offensive line took the game over. I proud of the boys, we’ll have a good flight home and everyone knows what’s at stake for us next week.” On the players’ excitement after the game “Well, these wins are hard to come by, and you’ve got to enjoy every one of them. We enjoy every win any way we can get it. This is a group of kids who have been through a lot. It’s a very resilient team with a lot of character. I think that’s what you’re seeing. They’ve come together and they’re playing for what’s most important — each other. They should be excited. That’s why you play – to win the game.” On Byron Maxwell “Byron’s a sophomore, and he’s getting better and better and better. He playing a lot of football and he’s starting to emerge as the big, physical corner. He’ll hit you with his eyes open. We’ve got a lot of young guys playing some critical roles for us.” On UVa “I felt like we matched up well with them. When our motors are running, we’ve got a chance to compete with anybody. I told them this morning, over at the hotel, you know how sometimes you crank your car up when it’s cold and let it run for a while before you go hop in that thing when it’s nice and warm? Just crank that car up so that when you go and slide your uniform on, you’ve got your motor running. They blocked us pretty well. This team (Virginia) is, I think, number two in not giving up sacks, so we did a good job putting pressure on them. I think our defense did a good job of mixing the coverage.” On the defense making plays “You don’t have to take as many chances because you feel like you can play the field position. One time I went for it on the fourth down because I felt confident that our defense could stop them. When you’ve got that situation you can feel a little bit better about a situation like that.” Senior Safety Michael Hamlin On Clemson’s defense: “Defensively we played great. We gave up one long drive. They’re a great team. Their offense gave us different formations and I think we just went out and executed and played harder than they did.” On Clemson’s success at making key plays on the fourth down: “I think we just executed. We knew they were going to challenge us to man up. You just do what you’ve got to do and accept the challenge.” Senior Running Back James Davis On the win “We had a lot of momentum and [Virginia] had an off week. I think that kind of helped us, having that momentum coming from our last game and bringing it here. Going out there with that passion to win the game, I think that brought a lot to the table.” On Clemson’s ability to make a bowl game: “That’s kind of our goal right now. We know we’ve got a bowl game ahead of us. We’ve got South Carolina next week. For a lot of guys, there is going to be a lot of emotion out there. It will be my last game in Tiger-town and I just think it’s time to bring all the emotions out on the field and lay it out there on the line.”
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