Elliott on the locker room talk at halftime

by Tony Crumpton - Assoc. Editor - Sep 29, 2018, 6:55 PM

Clemson co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott was incredibly proud of the running back group that led the charge in the comeback victory against Syracuse on Saturday.

Elliott shared some of the locker room talk at halftime that motivated the Tigers to the win.

"I said, ‘do you want to win a football game?’ Every man in there said, ‘yes.’ I told them it was not going to take a heroic performance," Elliott said. "Just go out and do your job. We knew we were going to have to settle in with the run and lead with the run. Chase [Brice] knew that he was going to have to make plays when the opportunities presented themselves. I talked to the whole offense and said, ‘If we want to win this game, let’s just get out of our own way.’ That was what happened in the first half...we kept stubbing our toe, and we weren't able to put points up. Then, we found a way in the second half to get a couple field goals and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter."

Elliott was proud of his entire running back group that gassed a tired Syracuse squad in the latter stages of the contest.

“He just continues to be himself," he said about running back Travie Etienne. "He runs hard and refuses to go down...he takes some chances, but more often than not, when he takes those chances, they pay off big. I’m really, really proud of him and the way he ran the football and really, really proud of [Adam] Choice and Tavien [Feaster] as well. I probably would have liked to get Feaster and Choice a couple more carries, but Travis had the hot hand, and we were in a situation where we needed our best guys in the game, and that’s why he got those carries."

Etienne had a career-high 27 rushes for 203 yards and three touchdowns.