WATCH: Jeff Scott after Georgia Southern: "Third week in a row with good explosive plays"
The game was scoreless after one quarter, but Clemson got it rolling in as they amassed 595 yards of total offense in the 38-7 win over the Eagles over Georgia Southern. See what co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott had to say after today's win.
On the crowd:
“80,000 fans coming out, this type of week, a lot of people didn’t know who was going to show up but as coaches and a team we were not surprised to see that many people out there and that’s rare in this day and age in college football so I want to start off thanking them for being here.”
Positives:
“I’d say the balance, something we always talk about, balance. I think we rushed for 309 and threw it for 286 so we talk about being our best, we’re a balanced team so it was definitely a positive. I thought we were better on third down, I think we ended up 7 of 12, that was a big emphasis for the week. I thought at times our tempo was better really on some of those drives we were running the ball, able to repeat some plays. That’s our third week in the row with some good explosive plays. I believe we had 10 explosive plays, runs over 12 (yards) or passes over 16 (yards) so that was a positive, that’s been a big emphasis obviously from last week.”
Negatives:
“First time all year we’ve had the turnovers. We were good through the first 2 games with no turnovers and then we go down on the first drive and we had a good drive going, it was just drive killers. We wanna get 80 plays offensively, I think we ended up with maybe 77 and we had 3 turnovers. Each of those turnovers cost you a minimum of 3 plays right there.”
“I think there were also some opportunities we had on a few of those drives where we kind of stumped our toe. I was proud of the way that we finished, they went down and scored. It was one of those situations, how are we going to respond? It was good to see really there was a lot of backups in there as we went down there on that last drive to finish. Always want to finish strong so that was a positive.”
Travis Etienne carrying the load against Ga. Southern:
“Yeah. That’s one thing we wanted to do. We wanted to come out and run the ball. We really challenged Travis and those backs and I felt like they responded. It was great to see what Travis can do when he gets the ball in his hands. He’s one of those guys that can score any time he gets it, felt like he ran hard. They have a good scheme, they’re trying to take away the run. They’ve got a lot of guys in there. I thought he did a good job and also thought Feaster had a couple of opportunities and made some plays there to help us.
Justyn Ross finding ways to get open:
“He’s one of those guys that just when he gets his opportunity, he makes the play. If I’m correct, that was his 2nd catch that he’s had here. 2 catches, 2 touchdowns so that’s pretty good odds. He had 3 catches for over 100 yards. He’s just really coming into his own, really challenged him this week in learning the playbook and understanding everything, not just a couple special things but really understanding everything about his position. He really did a good job of that this week and was able to go out and play and make some good plays. That was good to see.”
Was there a feeling like things could’ve been better if the coaches would’ve left the 1st team out there as opposed to putting in backups:
“To be honest, I felt like some of the backups did a better job when they were in there. They might have been a little more hungry, I don’t know. That was good to see but we wanted to challenge those guys, still a lot of things going on and we put that 2nd group out there, really 2nd and 3rd group out there. It was great to see those guys go execute. The message to those guys is hey, we’re going to need you this year. It’s a long year. Guys get hurt, we’re going to need you. There shouldn’t be a drop off and I felt like those guys did a good job today when given their opportunities so that was definitely a positive.
Emphasis on the run game:
“That was definitely something we talked about. Last week, we had some explosive plays in the passing game and really for us to be our best, we’ve got to be balanced. We’ve got to be able to run it. Our goal going into the game was to have over 250 yards rushing so I thought that was great to get. It was right there in the 4th quarter, I looked up there one time and we were around 216 so I knew we were getting close and those guys went and got it done in the 4th quarter and that’s definitely something positive for us to build on.”
Did the talk of Hurricane Florence have any impact on the offense, especially early with the slow start:
“I don’t. I’d like to think not. I think we had good practices. That’s all I can go off. I can’t really judge whenever they leave us what they’re thinking or looking on the internet and all that kind of stuff but practice wise, it was probably one of our better weeks of practice. Felt like the guys were really focused on us, had a lot of things to get corrected from Texas A&M. Some of them we did get corrected, some of them we still got some work to do but I didn’t really get a sense overall that there was a lot of distractions from the players. Coach Swinney was pretty confident to them that we were going to get an opportunity to play and I think they would’ve been shocked if we didn’t get that opportunity.”
When Kelly Bryant went down, was Trevor Lawrence pulled to the side before heading out on the field?
“There really wasn’t a whole lot to say other than it’s your series because he’s been playing so much and he’s got a lot of good experience and that’s a positive of playing 2 guys. From time to time, you are going to have a guy getting banged up. We’re not having to bring a cold guy off the sideline and it allows you a little bit more flexibility from time to time and there wasn’t any special talk or anything it was really just, hey, Kelly’s out right now, it’s yours. You and Chase, you’re going to go finish the game.”
The goal line struggle on a drive in the first half:
“We wanted to get it in there quicker than we did. That’s definitely a challenge for us. I was glad we got it in there on 4th down, that’s probably the positive of it, it’s the same situation as last week. It would’ve been very disappointing if we wouldn’t have got it in there but obviously, first down right down there. I’d think we’d like to get in there a little bit sooner and that’ll be stuff we’ll go back and watch on video and find out where the leakage was and why we didn’t get it in there a little bit earlier, but that’s definitely something that will build from.”
The tight end play against Georgia Southern:
“I think we had close to 18 guys that touched the ball. That was good to see all 3 of those tight ends get some opportunities. Cannon is a guy that got a nice seam ball down the middle and Milan did a good job as well and I think Galloway has got some more playing time. He’s a guy that has a chance and (J.C.) Chalk and Garrett (Williams). We really feel like we’ve got 5 guys in that room that can help us, and it’s just like every position, there’s a lot of things to improve and get better and those guys will.”
Second team offensive line:
“They made their opportunities count. That’s really what we talk to those guys about is when you do get your opportunities, make it count and that’s going to determine how many more opportunities you get later in the season in different games. It’ll be interesting. I’ve gotta go back and watch the video to see exactly what happened but all I know is they were in there, went down and drove us for a 4th quarter so it was good to see.”
Tavien Feaster:
“He’s a guy that got started a little bit slow, coming off a little clean up on his knee there in fall camp and has really been really working to get back to playing faster and get into playing shape, I thought he did. Not only did he have a couple of nice runs, I thought he caught the ball out of the back field, made a nice play over there on our sideline. And also Lyn-J Dixon, he’s a guy when he gets out there, just getting more comfortable and I thought he looked good. Made some nice runs and really give us 4 backs with Choice.”