Wolfpack 'another great challenge' according to Clemson DC Wes Goodwin
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On the play of defense:
”I always say it’s never as good, never as bad as it seems. The big plays and penalties were the glaring things, but our guys did a lot of good things. What stood out the most in the 4th quarter and overtime was the true character of the guys in the locker room: heart, determination, no quit attitude. As bad as the 3rd quarter was, those guys rose to the occasion and won the game, and that was really cool to see.”
On the defensive backs huddle:
”Just trying to get those guys to believe in themselves and have confidence in their abilities. The further you get away from the football, the more glaring your mistakes become. Whether that’s technique issues, how you play the ball at the top of the route, trying to get those guys to calm down and believe in themselves, have that confidence to move onto the next play and get them to settle in.”
On NC State Receivers:
“You got No. 5 in the slot, he’s played a lot of ball, and No. 88, the offense kinda goes through those guys. It’s another great challenge. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull it out up there last year, so our guys will have that chip on our shoulders to go out there and get after it Saturday night. Gameday, night game in the Valley, Top 10 matchup, we’ll be juiced up and ready to go.”
On Nate Wiggins:
”You’re going to give up big plays playing in the back end. You have to have the mindset of next play, next opportunity. He went out there and had a great play on the ball to win the game. Just reassuring those guys in between series to move on. Dwelling on the past is going to do us no good here. We got opportunities to get stops and win the game at the end, and let’s rise to the occasion.”
On keys to slowing down NC State:
”It’s going to come down to controlling the line of scrimmage and eliminating the run game as it always does, make teams be one dimensional. We still got to control the line of scrimmage and eliminate the effectiveness of their running backs and, obviously, eliminate the big plays down the field. That’s been the theme of the year-- the 20-30 yard chunk plays in the passing game. We got to do a better job of being efficient on 1st and 2nd down and get them into 3rd and long passing situations where we have the opportunity to get off the field.”