Clemson vs South Carolina Postgame Press Conference

James Davis drags Ko Simpson near the goalline to set up the winning score.

by TigerNet Staff - Sun Nov 20 03:11:30 GMT-04:00 2005

Tommy Bowden Press Conference, Windows Media, (12:37)

We knew it was going to be a hard game coming in. Trying to catch South Carolina like we did, new guy in town, winning five games in a row, playing at home on senior night. They are a well-coached team and we knew it would be hard. I am very pleased with our win."

On second half opening drive:

"Yeah we had a lull in the second quarter and South Carolina had a lot to do with that lull. They are a good football team. They won five conference games and finished second in their division. They are well coached and a very good team. In the second half we looked better than we did in the first. We knew they were going to insert safeties in the running game and they got numbers. We had to just create blocking schemes to give us the best advantage to try and run the ball."

On the first and 35 drive:

"You have to get it in chunks. You have to try and go 10,10,10 and not try to get them all at once. When the game is on the line, Charlie Whitehurst knows how to respond. There were some great catches by the receivers, and there were some great throws and protection by the line."

On winning four straight and eight of the last nine:

"I don't think this is domination. I know those statistics sound impressive, but I don't think that we will have any trouble next year televising this game."

Clemson DC Vic Koenning, Windows Media, (3:00)

Clemson OC Rob Spence, Windows Media, (2:30)

Charlie Whitehurst, Windows Media, (3:58)

On the 3rd-down conversion to seal the win:
"It was a quarterback draw. When the play is called it's going to be a pretty good one, and all the gaps were covered. If you can just push them out of the way you're going to have a clean run to the safety. I think I made it by about one yard and it was a great call and a great pickup. It was one of the best feelings of my life, you know it's over, it's four in a row, it's just awesome."

On his rough start:

"It couldn't have started any worse. I just didn't play good. The defense kind of kept us in it. We scored the points when we had to there at the end, and I just couldn't be happier for everybody."

On expecting to win this rivalry game:

"You come into this game feeling like you can win it, no matter where we play it, and I'm sure they feel the same way. No matter what the records are you know it's going to come down to the end, and it did tonight."

Charles Bennett, Windows Media, (4:43)

James Davis, Windows Media, (2:00)

On the halftime turnaround:
"We made too many mistakes in the first half. We turned it over a lot. I said `Let's get the momentum back and let's go out there, play some ball and play like we did against Florida State last week.' "

On the rivalry:

"I did what I had to do to help the team win the game. I know how bad they wanted this, to win the rivalry. I saw it when we were riding the bus over here, the Gamecock fans booing us and everything. It's really new to me coming up here [from his hometown of Atlanta]. The crowd was loud out there. I couldn't hear anything, I really couldn't hear the plays at all."

On the strategy when USC went up 9-6:

"I told coach to give me the ball. We ran the ball a few times in the first half and got a couple of yards. So I told coach, give me the ball and let's get a drive going and it'll open up the pass."