Saturday 10/16/2010
Oct. 16, 2010
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 | Photo Gallery 2
Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney
On the game: “This was a great team win for us. We came together as a family and played tough. The past games we’ve been close to pulling all the strings together to make us one unit, but today we finally did it and took care of business. We took care of the ball, played together, and overwhelmed our opponent.
“We did what we had to do to win. The kickoff return for a touchdown by Andre (Ellington), our three picks on defense, and our special teams unit played a major role in our win today.”
Handling Maryland’s defense: “Our offensive line did an excellent job on picking up their blitz. The most difficult part in preparing for the game was the schematics of their defense. Kyle Parker also did a good job by scrambling in the pocket. He’s really hard to sack. He maintained good ball protection and was able to read the defense really well.”
On Kyle Parker: “KP had a career high in rushing yards this game. We worked during the week in adding a lot of new stuff for him because we knew we needed him in order to win this week.”
On the play of his defense: “Da’Quan (Bowers) had a terrific game today with 6 tackles and 3 sacks. Gave him the game ball for his great effort.”
“Overall defensively we played tough and worked through our difficulties. We came out in the third quarter and perfected our flaws. Kids like Miguel (Chavis) and (Xavier) Brewer really stepped up today. Brewer especially impressed me today. He’s a really serious, focused player and I was happy to see him do well today.”
Maryland Head Coach Ralph Friedgen
On the team’s response in the second half: “We went in at halftime confident, and we came out in the second half flat. I’ll take the responsibility there. We didn’t play very well in the second half. We didn’t play very smart. We had too many penalties in key situations. We were not very good, again, on third down on either side of the ball. We have to play smarter, and if we don’t, then we won’t know how good a football team we can be.”
On his team’s overall play: “We’re young, and I can make all the rationalizations, but it’s really a matter of getting it done. We’re not getting it done. It’s not getting done. I’m going to start holding people’s feet to the fire because they have to get it done.”
On dealing with Da’Quan Bowers: “We were trying to do some things to help on Bowers. He’s a good player. Like I said before the game, you have to get a running game going. You can’t let these guys get going and just tee off and come after you.”
On the development of quarterback Danny O’Brien: “I thought Danny was doing okay until he threw those interceptions. You can’t do that. I know we were in passing situations, but I’d rather have an incompletion or a sack than an interception. Overall, I think he did some good things. He’s going to improve every game because he’s a young kid. As a redshirt freshman playing in his third game, he’s probably doing better than average.”
On the next step for his team: “We have to win on the road. I think sometimes that our guys think we’re on an amusement trip or something. We’re on a business trip to win football games. We have to learn how to do that if we’re going to be the team we want to be. We’ve got some tough road games coming up.”
Clemson Player Quotes
Quarterback Kyle Parker “I had to make some plays with my feet. It’s not going to go the way you draw it up every time. You have to improvise and make plays and I feel like I did that and put us in a position to win.”
“It was really cool to have C.J. back today. He came and talked to us last night, and you don’t really find a better guy than C.J. The biggest thing that I noticed is that he’s still the same humble teammate that I played with. He just came back and encouraged us.”
“I don’t care if we won 3-0 and had zero yards of offense, it didn’t matter today. We just needed to go out there and do what we needed to do to win. The biggest thing was that whenever the momentum came our way, we just took it on offense.”
Defensive end Da’Quan Bowers “I want to give my teammates my best effort every week. I don’t want to let those guys down because there are a bunch of guys out there depending on me to make plays. I just want to give all the credit to all my fellow defensive players giving me the chance, especially putting pressure on the quarterback allowing me to make plays.”
“This is a very big win for us. We needed this win to get back on track. Coach Swinney says it’s a one-game season and we have to take it game-by-game.”
“This doesn’t start with me. Everybody on this team has a different role, I’m a role player. If I’m down and out I expect them to pick me up just like if they’re down and out I’m going to carry them on my shoulders. It’s a great feeling to have players that will put it on the line for you.”
“This is the start of something. We just have to focus and take the rest of the season one game at a time.”
Safety DeAndre McDaniel “Da’Quan Bowers is going to give his all every game. He had a heck of a game and with that kind of pass rush, it just makes our job in the secondary easier.”
“Coach Steele has been trying to tell us to get on track and we want to get on track. We had a defensive meeting to talk about us all being a little more focused. We all came out there today and played with a lot of passion and we got what we wanted.”
“We’re going to take it one game at a time. We’re going to play hard. We feel like we control our own destiny right now and we’re going to continue to go out there and play ball.”
December 8, 2024
