Dabo Swinney on 4th down play at Miami: "There was no read. It's a handoff."
Opening Statement: "Thankful we got another opportunity this week to see if we can find a way to win a game. Doesn't get any easier though. This is good football team, similar to us, I think they're, they're better than their record. Not much has changed when you watch NC State, they're tough, they're physical, they're aggressive. They're well coached, and really, really know their scheme. Looking at the defensive side, they're an odd front double-cloud. You got to do a great job, having pressure answers against these guys. Every single year we play them, whether it be in the run, or the or the pass game."
On NC State linebacker Payton Wilson: "Aggressive downhill linebackers, I think No. 11 Payton (Wilson), he's, I mean, he's, he's a game-wrecker. He is fun to watch. I hate we've got to play against him, but he's one of those guys, when you watch tape, you just kind of have to tip your hat. This is a great football player, maybe the fastest guy on the field. He can absolutely fly. I've got got a lot of respect for his game. He's been there a long time. So I've seen him a bunch. I think he's a great player and he's going to have a good future after after NC State as well."
On what needs to happen to win this Saturday: "It's a simple answer. I know none of y'all want a simple answer. But it's really simple and that is let's win the turnover margin. I mean, we're last, dead last and we've got a really good team. It's not that you put your head in the sand, you got other issues like we've a got couple spots, we've got to do a little better, but the reason we are where we are is turnovers. I mean, we're last in the country and fumbles. It's where they happen to and as a result, we're last in red zone. We're dead last. That's your problem. It all but it all goes back to turnovers."
On what he said to Cade Klubnik after the 4th down play: "What were you thinking? What, why, what happened? You just kind of go through that process. He's one of the most compliant guys we could ever have here. It's not like he's a defiant guy. Sometimes ballplayers try to make a play and sometimes defensively it's no different when we got a guy supposed to be in this gap, but he's not in that gap because he's trying to do too much, right? So just being disciplined and just stay within the system. He's just a guy that made a decision in a moment that if it worked everybody's going, 'Wow!,' but it didn't work. Young player that's learning and he will learn, but you just talk it through."
On if the call was a read or a straight give: "The play call dictates what it is. There was no read. It's a handoff. If we would have called it out on the 50 it's the same. You call it every time, everything's protected. There's nothing to read. He just made a decision but it's a give. You have plays in your offense where there's reads built in and you have plays where there's no reads and that's a play where there's zero read. Just give the ball. Again, that's one play, we can sit here magnify-- that was a critical moment but I mean, goodness gracious. We had a 3rd-and-14 as well. If we get a stop right there, we probably win the game. We needed one stop.”