Clemson vs Maryland postgame notes and quotes

by TigerNet Staff - Sun Oct 04 11:15:06 GMT-04:00 2009

Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney

On Clemson's 2-3 record:

"I'm very surprised, but that's where we are. We have two weeks to get ready for [Wake Forest]. We'll play the way Clemson should; we'll play the way our fans deserve us to play. We'll see if we can win; you either quit or keep working."

On energy:

"In the first half, I didn't think our defense played with great energy at all. I think we missed tackles, they out beat us for a jump ball. But I thought we matched their energy in the second half. I thought we came back, especially defensively; we really played with a lot of fight. You have to give Maryland credit."

On missed opportunities:

"There were some sacks and drops; special teams mistakes. [The offense] had the three opportunities at the thirty yard line. It's very disappointing."

On coaching:

"There are a lot of things that we can do just a little bit better. We can be fine; it's not like we haven't been in a position to win games. As a coach, you don't panic. You can't throw away everything good that you did; we just have to get better."

Senior Tight End Michael Palmer

On the loss:

"We've got to grow up a little bit. We've just got to get a little bit tougher mentally and make some better decisions. We've just got to grow up."

On the coaches:

"They put us in a position to win. They called the right plays, we've got to execute. We can't be jumping offsides. We can't be getting stupid penalties. We've got to execute and that's on us."

Freshman Quarterback Kyle Parker

On Coach Swinney:

"I think that's what a head coach does - stands up for his players and takes responsibility, but at the same time, I think we can play better. "

On their `many' mistakes and penalties:

"I wouldn't really say a lot of things. To tell you the truth I thought we were in a good position, but we let them come back into it and that's the biggest reason."

"It's hard to say. I think their offense really controlled the ball. We had a lot of stupid penalties that we could control. It just makes you feel real sick knowing that we could have played a little differently and the outcome would have been different."

On Maryland's defense:

"They were doing the same thing the whole game, a lot of the things we've seen on film. It's kind of tough ... We really hurt ourselves on some drives and things like that kind of came back and nipped us in the butt."

On the final drive:

"I felt good about the drive going into it. I knew that we were going to have to go down there and score again, but we made back-to-back plays or whatever. We're going [well], but unfortunately it just didn't turn out the way we wanted to. "

Junior Kicker Richard Jackson

On the fourth quarter field goal attempt:

"Yeah, they called time out. It comes with the game. They can give their coaches credit, I couldn't make it twice."

On bouncing back from this performance:

"I've had some tough situations before. Hopefully I don't lose too much faith. I'll work hard and I'll come back."

Senior Running Back C.J. Spiller

On the loss:

"I mean, they won. They just outperformed us today."

"Everybody is stunned. We're stunned, Clemson fans are stunned. It is what it is and we can't control it. We've just got to get everybody healthy this off week and get back to work."

On his guidance as a senior:

"I just make sure there isn't any finger pointing [and] understand that every game we've lost, we've had the chance to win. I think right now we are just a team that needs to find a way to win. We say every time we go out we've got a great match-up and we've got great athletes, but we just have to find a way to win and that's the thing that we've got to do."

On "blaming the coach":

"It isn't on Coach Swinney. Coach Swinney isn't even out there playing. It's on us, plain and simple. Being the coach, of course everyone is going to take shots at him, [but] I don't remember Coach Swinney playing one down today."

On moving forward and defenses performance:

"The only thing we can do is to keep trying; just keep going. We would love to come out with a win, but unfortunately we didn't, so we've got to find a way. The defense played well. They gave us multiple opportunities to win the game. We just let those guys down. We've got to pick it up on offense because our defense, they're playing phenomenally and we're not responding when they are giving us opportunities to go take the game over."

On his touchdown return:

"[I was] running without a shoe. Since they [were] up, I guess they got real brave to kick it deep and my guys did a good job on holding them up. I just kept my feet moving like coach always tells me, to just keep my feet moving. To their surprise I just got loose and I didn't know where anyone was at, so even without my shoe, I just kept running. I saw my teammate Jacoby come make that key block."

Notes

* When Jacoby Ford scored on a 17-yard rush in the first quarter of today's game it gave him at least one touchdown rushing, receiving, punt return and kickoff returns over his career. He became just the fifth player in Clemson history to account for a touchdown four different ways. He joins teammate C.J. Spiller, Chansi Stuckey (2003-06), Bobby Gage (1945-48), and Ray Mathews (1947-50) as the only players in school history with a touchdown at least four different ways. Spiller also has thrown a touchdown pass and is the only Clemson player to account for a TD five different ways. Spiller had accounted for a TD four different ways within the first four games of this season.

* Richard Jackson kicked a 51-yard field goal in the second period, his third field goal of at least 50 yards this year. That establishes a Clemson season record for field goals of at least 50 yards. He had a 53 yarder at Georgia Tech and a 52-yarder against Boston College earlier this year. He broke the record of two 50-yard field goals in a season held by Donald Igwebuike in 1984, Chris Gardocki in 1988 and Nelson Welch in 1992.

* With an 11-yard kickoff return in the second period, C.J. Spiller became the ACC's career all-purpose yardage leader. He moved ahead of Leon Johnson of North Carolina (1993-96) today. Johnson had 5,828 for the Tar Heels. Spiller finished the day with 5945 for his career and will need just 55 yards against Wake Forest in two weeks to become the first ACC player to reach the 6000 yard mark.

* Spiller's 92 yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the third period was his fifth career kickoff return for a touchdown and his sixth total kick return for a score. He ran the last 70 yards of the play with just one shoe. He broke the record of five set by Justin Miller, who had five kick returns for touchdowns between 2002-04. It was also Spiller's 16th career touchdown of at least 50 yards, his ninth of at least 80 yards. Spiller has had at least one play of 60 yards in all five games so far this year. That is a Clemson record in both TD plays of 50 yards and 80 yards.

* On that play Spiller also became Clemson's career leader in kickoff return yards. He had 103 on kickoff returns today, his third career 100-yard kickoff return game. He now has 1637 career kickoff return yards.

* Clemson has scored 11 touchdowns this year and C.J. Spiller and Jacoby Ford have combined for nine of the 11.

* DaQuan Bowers had a career high eight tackles and a career high two sacks today.

* Maryland held Clemson to just 274 yards in total offense, marking the second-fewest allowed by the Terrapins this season. The Tigers managed just 71 yards in offense in the second half, earned five first downs and held the ball for just 11:37 after halftime.

* Maryland's Chris Turner had a career-high in rushing attempts with 17, totaling six net yards on the day...Nick Ferrara's 43-yard field goal in the second quarter was the longest of his career.

* With Maryland's Travis Baltz sidelined with an ankle injury, it was up to true freshman Nick Ferrara to handle all phases of the kicking game - punting, kickoffs and place-kicking. Ferrara's 61-yard punt in the first quarter was the longest punt since Baltz booted a 65-yarder against Georgia Tech in 2007. He averaged 43.2 yards on eight punts for the day, and placed three punts inside the opponents' 20-yard-line. Ferrara also made a 43-yard field goal.