Clemson vs. Georgia Postgame Quotes

Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney

“This was a great win. This was a gutsy win. The character and toughness that our guys showed tonight was something special. We were ready to go. We knew this was going to be a slug-fest for four quarters. Georgia is a GREAT team. We stood them up in the trenches when we needed to, we got stops when we needed to and we ran the ball when we needed to. We made too many mistakes, but we overcame them. This really was a gutsy win.

“The little things won the game for us. Our effort and intensity was awesome. This was a good start to the season. We accomplished our first goal – win the opener. We need to get better. I’m proud of this team and our fans. This was a magical day. The energy all day was incredible and it was capped off by a special night. We’re going to celebrate this win today and refocus tomorrow. Our goal is to get better by next week”

On ‘do your job’ mentality:“This was a team win. Everybody did their job and did it well. We got big stops when we needed them and we got the big plays when we needed them. Roderick McDowell was awesome. He got those big runs when we needed them. We were not consistent in the first half, but Tajh (Boyd) came out and looked like a veteran. He made huge plays. Martavis Bryant did not have a great game, but he had the catch of the night when he caught the onside kick. We won the turnover margin and that’s how you win. Your offense and defense have to complement each other. This was a huge opening game that had a lot of pressure to play perfectly. We didn’t do that, but we did find a way to win.”

On Spencer Shuey‘s play:“Spencer Shuey leaves everything he has on the field. He played awesome. He’s physical and he came up with some huge hits.  He’s a workhorse on defense and that’s what you need.”

On game atmosphere:“The game-winning touchdown was scored by #81 (Stanton Seckinger). This was just a special night for Clemson. I’m happy for Coach (Danny) Ford to finally be inducted into the Ring of Honor. It was awesome to see all of our former players back tonight, too. That is Clemson. This was just an awesome night.”

On play of Georgia:“I don’t want to play them again. They are a team that really makes you slug it out. Aaron Murray consistently makes plays. We finally got to him in the second half and wore them down in the trenches, which worked to our advantage. I also have a lot of respect for (Todd) Gurley and (Keith) Marshall, but I’m proud of our guys.”

Georgia Head Coach Mark Richt

Thoughts on the game:“Clemson is a very good football team. They did what they had to do to win the football game. Tajh (Boyd) had a good game and Sammy did his thing. The touchdown Watkins (Sammy) had was a great job of breaking the tackle and taking it to the house. Both teams played a great game and had bright moments. At least we got it down to where we had a shot at an onside kick. We weren’t able to get it and lost the game.”

On Todd Gurley:“I thought Gurley played a great game and ran the ball hard. Unfortunately he strained his quad and wasn’t as effective as he was at the beginning of the game. He came back later in the game and was able to do a little bit more of what Todd is capable of.”

On Clemson’s environment:“The atmosphere is tremendous, but we go to a lot of stadiums that have that type of atmosphere and we are used to it.”

On penalties:“There were some penalties that hurt us, and some penalties that helped us. I thought we were able to overcome most of them. I thought the officials did a pretty good job.”

On Aaron Murray:“Overall, I thought he played pretty well. The fumble he had really hurt us; we have to hold on to the ball. The pick, those are going to happen and they were just in a good scheme and their backside defensive end dropped into coverage. As he let the ball loose he just did not see that defensive end drop back into coverage.”

On the tough road schedule:“I am not one to cry about schedules, and I am fine with the way our schedule is.”

On potential playmakers:“I think those guys have already made plays for us in the past. It’s a shame that we didn’t have Malcolm (Mitchell) because he could have made some big plays. We’ve got some good players and we will be home and playing some conference teams and we will be ok.”

CLEMSON PLAYER QUOTES

Quarterback Tajh Boyd

On what the win means:“I think it was a good win. Nothing that we didn’t expect in the program, but I think it turned a lot of heads in college football. It was a very monumental win for this University, for this program, for the conference in general. I think we were the only non-conference team to beat two top ten SEC teams in a row and all that good stuff is great, but just have to continue to keep working and keep our eyes on the prize. This is only the opener. We have 11 more games left. We just have to continue to work.”

On the four ties:“Yes. We kind of knew what the situation would be. I kind of took it in two different ways, either this game is going to be a tight one or all around it’s not going to be as close as people think it was. Again, it was a little tight throughout the game, but that’s what we play for.  This team is a veteran team. We have been every situation you could possibly image. We have been down 18. We have been up and lost. We just got absolutely blew out. It’s situation like these where you know what type of team you have. You know what type of players you have surrounding you and you know that they’ll leave everything out there on that field. That is just what I expected from my team tonight.”

On Seckinger’s touchdown:“He is a really good player. He is just unbelievable talent. He’s a younger guy so he just has to continue to keep building. I am very confident in him. Obviously Coach Morris is confident in him for him to even be an option in that situation. I don’t really know why it was under review. I jogged off the field like it was a touchdown. I am very proud of him and the way he performed. Darrell [Smith] had a great game at the Tight End position. We are expecting Sam Cooper, Jordan Leggett, and Jay Jay McCullough to come along within the next few weeks, but I am proud of the way those guys performed tonight.”

Running Back Roderick McDowell

On the statement this made for the team:“Clemson is here just like Stephone [Anthony] said when he was coming here, Clemson is coming and this right here really stamps it forward.  There are more games to come. We just can’t say ‘okay we beat Georgia, now everything else is easy now.’ Every day we have to come to play.

On how gratifying this win is:“Like I said before it’s a blessing. The offensive line, I have to give credit to them.  Those boys went out there and blocked holes for me to run in, so I have to give credit to those guys.”

On running the clock at the end of the game:“As an offense, that’s the best thing to go out there and play victory formation. When you go into victory formation that’s one of the best things to happen, to hear the crowd. Our fans were like the 12th man out there. They came out there and brought it 24/7. It was a wonderful feeling.”

Wide Receiver Sammy Watkins

On Tiger Walk:“It was crazy. They welcomed us in. The fans were really crazy and I was excited. It was the greatest moment I have ever seen since I have been here. Seeing them going crazy it got me really excited with them, and I loved it.”

On making plays early:“It was great. Overall, I still think we can get better at the wide receiver spot. We made the big plays that coach wanted us to make and we still have a lot of improvement to make.

On having too many drops:“Overall, I think too many mistakes and too many drops. I think we were kind of psyched out a little bit because it was Georgia, and a big game and we just have to treat it like any other game.

It’s a great compliment, but it still can hurt us losing another game. We just have to get better and work at it in practice. We just need to calm down and relax in the game. I think we kind of did it in the fourth quarter when we started making a lot of plays on the edge and blocking. It’s a great accomplishment against Georgia.”

Defensive Tackle Grady Jarrett

On play of the defense after the fourth quarter:“It just got us going. We know we gave up that early touchdown that shouldn’t of happened to us. We missed some fits and just small things. We were frustrated that the score was what it was, but we knew had to come out and play because you can’t take points off the board, you just have to stop them now. “

On early second quarter play:“I wouldn’t say anything changed. I feel like we came out good, just the big plays killed us. Staying consistent and not giving up is what helped us. It really wasn’t a change in our plan or anything, we just finally got it all together. We got good and rolling and ended up stopping them.”

GEORGIA PLAYER QUOTES

Quarterback Aaron Murray

On the outcome:“It’s tough in an away game.  Sometimes the other team gets a good jump off of the crowd”

On the biggest challenge tonight:“Our biggest challenge was dealing with the crowd noise and penalties.  We killed ourselves with penalties tonight.  It’s tough to convert 3rd and long. Penalties are a big reason why we lost tonight.”

On the atmosphere of Death Valley:“It was crazy.  It was loud, which made communication tough.  We expected that and we practiced for it, but it is tough to simulate an environment like this.”

Defensive Back Brendan Langley

On facing Tajh Boyd:“They’re a great team and he has a lot of weapons to help him.”

On Georgia’s conditioning:“We just got beat on a couple mental errors but I don’t think there were any conditioning errors.  We conditioned very well and I felt like we were extremely prepared.”

Linebacker Jordan Jenkins

On the play of Tajh Boyd and the Clemson offense:“I have to give a lot of credit to Tajh.  He made a lot of big plays.  They used a lot of motion mixed with quick passes.  A lot of times they blocked us with double-teams.  I think I had a fullback, tackle and a tight end blocking me at one point.  But we can’t use that as an excuse.  We needed to have a better pass rush, and I don’t think we did a good job with that tonight.”