Postgame Notes and Quotes: No. 7 Clemson 24, Georgia Tech 10

Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney

On the victory:

“The fun’s in the winning. I’m really proud of our team. Everything is about how you respond. Good teams respond, and great teams respond like we did. I can’t tell you how proud I am of our team and our staff. We were better tonight than we probably have been at any point this season.”

On bouncing back after a loss:

“We’re a very young football team. So, as a coach, you always have to reteach on how and why we do things. But they came out ready to go.”

On the defensive showing:

“Georgia Tech was third in the country with around 300-yard rushing per game coming into tonight, and we held them to under 200 yards. Our defense was awesome...guys did a great job.”

On the offensive performance:

“Offensively, we are at our best when we have good tempo and we’re attacking, and that was shown tonight. I’m really proud of Kelly Bryant. He came out firing from the first snap. We ran the ball effectively all night, getting over 200 yards rushing. We also did a great job of protecting our quarterback and gave up no sacks.”

On Clemson’s special teams:

“Alex Spence made a good kick, and Will Spiers had several great punts. The kicking coverage was solid all night, as well.”

On where Clemson stands at this point in the season:

“We’re right where we wanted to be coming into this season. It’s November, and we’re moving into the next phase of our journey. If we want something, we’re going to have to go and get it. And we’re one of the teams that has a chance, and that’s right where we wanted to be. I’m excited about having the opportunity to control our own destiny. It’s up to us to take advantage of it.”

Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Johnson

Opening Statement:
“Clemson has a really good football team, and we didn’t play very well. That comes back to me. It starts with me. I thought we were ready to play, but clearly, we weren’t. We couldn’t win any one-on-one plays, any one-on-one blocks. We really struggled offensively. Defensively, we missed a ton of tackles and gave up some big plays to dig ourselves a hole. We actually played decently in the second half on defense, but we were so far behind it didn’t matter.”

On third-down offense:
“We were probably less than 20% on option reads. We missed a lot of reads. When we did get them right, it was like popcorn. Some of the stuff was just ridiculous. I can’t explain why we do some of the stuff we do here, but we do.”

On offensive execution:
“We got the thing going, then fumbled the ball. And, of course, like in years past...two plays, three plays later and it’s a touchdown and you’re digging out from behind.”

On Clemson’s defense:
“[Clemson lines] up the same way as Wake Forest, but with different players. There is no magical elixir about how you play. Everyone lines up the same. It’s called beating blocks. We got rattled a little bit, especially in the first half. Clemson ran KirVonte Benson down once or twice because he was so concerned about ball security in the open field, he slowed down a bit. They’re fast on defense. We’re not the only people they do that to.”

On the weather:
“We had a hard time the few times we actually tried to throw the ball. But they didn’t. I don’t think you can blame it on the weather. If we had played in the clear, sure. We would’ve played with a quick field, but they would have, too.”

Individual Notes:

• Head coach Dabo Swinney improved to 6-5 overall versus Georgia Tech and 5-1 against the Yellow Jackets at Memorial Stadium.
• Swinney improved to 62-17 overall against ACC opponents, which includes a 59-16 mark in the regular season.
• Swinney won his 96th game as the head coach of the Tigers, tying him with Danny Ford for the second-most wins by any Clemson head coach in program history.
• Quarterback Kelly Bryant threw a career-high two touchdown passes.
• Wide receiver Deon Cain hauled in a reception for the 31st consecutive game. Cain also reached the 100-catch mark for his career on the night.
• Tight end Milan Richard hauled in his first career touchdown reception on a 20-yard pass in the first quarter.
• Linebacker Tre Lamar amassed 11 tackles and two sacks, both career highs.

Team Notes:

• Clemson won its 300th game in Death Valley, improving to 300-102-7 all-time at the venue, dating back to 1942.
• Clemson improved to 38-3 in its last 41 games, dating back to 2014.
• Clemson improved to 27-1 in its last 28 games and 44-3 in its last 47 home games.
• Clemson improved to 22-2 in its last 24 contests versus ACC teams.
• Clemson improved to 14-1 in night games over the course of the last two years. Only four of those 14 wins have been at home.
• Clemson improved to 50-2 in its last 52 games against unranked opponents.
• With the Clemson win, the all-time tally in the series between Clemson and Georgia Tech became 51-30-2 in favor of the Yellow Jackets.
• Clemson won its third straight versus Georgia Tech.
• Clemson improved to 14-6 at home against Georgia Tech.
• Clemson improved to 19-17 against Georgia Tech since the Yellow Jackets joined the ACC in 1983.
• With the Clemson win, the home team in the series between Clemson and Georgia Tech improved to 8-1 in the last nine contests. Clemson has won five in a row at Memorial Stadium when taking on Georgia Tech.
• Coming off of a loss, the Tigers avoided losing two in a row, improving their program record of 79 consecutive games without suffering back-to-back losses. The Tigers improved to 68-11 in those 79 games.
• Clemson won its 56th game of the past five years, which is tied for the second-most of any program in that stretch.
• Clemson won its 99th game of the past 10 years, which is tied for the fourth-most of any program in that stretch.
• Clemson improved to 83-21 in the 2010s. That .798 winning percentage is the best of any decade in program history.
• Clemson’s senior class improved to 26-4 in ACC regular season games, with the 26 wins serving as the third-most ACC wins for any senior class in program history. The .867 winning percentage is the third-best in program history.
• Eight different Tigers collected Clemson’s 11 tackles for loss.
• Clemson gave up seven or fewer points through the first three quarters for the sixth time this season.
• The Clemson defense gave up just three third-down conversions, its fewest given up this season.

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