Dabo says Watkins will play Saturday if he is able; Price out with MCL injury |
The good news coming out of Sunday’s media teleconference with Clemson head coach
Dabo Swinney
Left tackle
Phillip Price “Injury-wise, Sammy looked pretty good today. He was a little sore,” Swinney said. We'll see where he is tomorrow. Hope to get him back going Tuesday or Wednesday. Not anything serious. Phillip Price is definitely going to be out this week. His ACL was fine, but it is an MCL sprain, so he'll be out this week for sure. We hope to get him back for South Carolina, but that's kind of optimistic. They do feel definitely he'll be back for the championship game. I feel good for him that he'll be able to resume playing. We'll see how he responds to treatment this week. Outside of that, I think we are in pretty good shape health-wise." Swinney said the coaching staff was pleased with the win, but understands there were far too many mistakes to feel confident heading into the final two regular season games. "As you would expect, a lot of excitement around here today as far as winning the division,” Swinney said. “It's a great accomplishment for our team and staff, but it's back to work today as a staff. We've got a lot of mistakes. You sit there and look at the film and we had three turnovers that were critical, plus a punt return for a touchdown. But at the end of the day we found a way to win. They're showing that they know how to win, making plays in crunch time. From a coaching standpoint, we're happy but there's still a lot out there for our team. We just have to keep improving.” He said the offense put up good numbers, but made too many mistakes to be completely effective. "Offensively we left a lot out there, but yet we have 522 yards offense,” he said. “We rushed for 180 and had no sacks. It's a little frustrating because we didn't play as well as we were capable of. Same thing on defense. We just have a lot of work to do. We're 9-1 and by far we have not reached our potential. We still have a lot of room for improvement. We have other goals out there. We're trying to get a seventh ACC win for the first time since 1983 and a 10-win season since 1990. “ On the players of the game "Our players of the game were
Rashard Hall offense and
Darrell Smith guys.” On if
Spencer Benton "No, we changed things because he kicked two duds in a row. He hit two shanks and kind of rolled them out there. We went with Cat to see if we could get a better kick. He had a great kick early and another good one, but hit two bad ones in a row, so we put Cat in there. And we'll get Spencer going back this week. His first game back, I think he might have been trying too hard." On if Watkins will play this week "We're going to try to play him. That's up to how he responds. If he's ready to go, we'll play him. He looks pretty good. He'll be a little limited, but hopefully he'll be able to go Saturday. It'll probably be a decision that'll be made later in the week." On N.C. State being a trap game "They're all dangerous. We're fighting for our lives every single week. This one will be no different. We'll get the very best they've got. When you're highly ranked and you're Clemson, you're going to get everybody's best in this conference. From week to week, anything can happen. It's tough to go up there and play. They shut North Carolina out two weeks ago. This is the next game, we're trying to be the best we can be and for us to do that, we have to keep finding ways to win. To get a 10th win would be a huge accomplishment. We're a good, solid team, but we're trying to have a great year. We still have a lot of work to do for that to happen. Every game on our schedule is dangerous." On what he thinks is issue with QB
Tajh Boyd "Just pressing. Trying to make big plays and not taking what's there. They dropped eight a bunch and we tried to force some throws into some really tight windows. Some of that comes from the success he's had. He's got a ton of confidence in his arm and in his receivers. He's not very bashful in putting the ball in some tight spots. The one interception, he just overthrew the ball. The guy was open. He just floated it. The play on the screen, that was just a great play by their guy. He certainly made some mistakes. No doubt about it. When he's going, the team is rolling pretty good. He can definitely play much better. But he brought us back in two clutch drives there at the end, so for that I'm really proud of him. He ended up with a very solid day." On Catanzaro "When you're a kicker, you'll have moments like that. He's made some big kicks for us this year. Obviously none bigger than that one. That was a huge, huge kick. I told him there was no pressure on him. He wasn't going to lose the game. I told him we'd win it then or in overtime. Interestingly enough, if you look at his track record, he's been incredibly accurate outside of 40 yards for whatever reason. Most of his misses have been inside of that. And the first one was a great kick. He hit it good, he just pushed it a little to the right. I'm really happy for him to make a kick like that to win a game. You have to remember that he is just a sophomore. The more situations you have like that and have success and even failure, you get better." On development of
Martavis Bryant "Martavis played 16 snaps. Just opportunity. Nothing really other than that. The biggest thing is Jaron Brown and Nuk Hopkins. Those are the two starters there. Jaron was our player of the game yesterday. He's had a couple of games where he hasn't had a catch. You have to take your opportunities as they come. This is a fact ... Martavis and Charone, talent-wise, pure talent, are as talented as Sammy. But they're normal, developing freshmen guys. They've already done good things. We've got all the confidence in the world in them." On if he thinks it is remarkable that team is 9-1 "It is, considering the mistakes we've made. But you look at the big picture and you don't want to be negative, but you go wow, how good could we be? Sometimes you just get whipped. But we've got a lot of things that are well within our control. Ball security being No. 1. I'm really disappointed in ball security the last two games. We have to take care of the ball. We have to have good technique. Guys need to do what they're suppose to do. The quarterback has to take what's there. Defensively, we had a good plan but we have to execute the plan. Field position was really poor for us in the first half. Our d-tackles have to play the technique that we call. Our linebackers have to fit their gaps properly. There are a lot of things we can improve on. We had a punt taken back on us with absolutely pitiful coverage. We had guys out there trying to cover with no purpose. Our punter didn't punt the ball well and that's hard. It puts pressure on your coverage team. There are a lot of things we have to correct at every position. We're 9-1, but we're hungry as a staff. I think we pressed a little bit yesterday. I think everyone was excited to play yesterday. We just kind of forced some mistakes." On mistakes being because of youth "I won't single any guys out but we had some critical mistakes there yesterday and that kind of comes with the territory. We just have to continue to coach and improve. It's a lot better to do that when you find a way to win as opposed to losing a game. We're not perfect all the time but we've made big plays a lot more than we did a year ago. That's what good teams do. It doesn't go always the way you plan it. But to find a way to win nine times out of 10 is outstanding, especially with the amount of youth we have on the team."
Dabo Swinney
Head Coach
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is that wide receiver
Sammy Watkins
Sammy Watkins
Fr. Wide Receiver
#2 6-1, 200
Fort Myers, FL
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- injured during the third quarter of Saturday’s 31-28 win over Wake Forest - should be ready to go this week.
Phillip Price
RS Sr. Offensive Tackle
#79 6-5, 315
Dillon, SC
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, however, might have to miss one or two games. 
Rashard Hall
Gr. Safety
#31 6-1, 210
St. Augustine, FL
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on defense,
Jaron Brown
Jaron Brown
RS Jr. Wide Receiver
#18 6-2, 200
Cheraw, SC
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on 
Darrell Smith
RS So. Tight End
#84 6-2, 245
Gadsden, AL
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on special teams. Really a solid day from those 
Spencer Benton
RS Jr. Punter / Kicker
#13 6-2, 195
Myrtle Beach, SC
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reinjured himself 
Tajh Boyd
RS So. Quarterback
#10 6-1, 225
Hampton, VA
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Martavis Bryant
Fr. Wide Receiver
#1 6-5, 205
Calhoun Falls, SC
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and
Charone Peake
Charone Peake
Fr. Wide Receiver
#19 6-3, 205
Moore, SC
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