S. Carolina vs. Clemson Quotes

CLEMSON HEAD COACH DABO SWINNEY

Opening statement:“First of all, I’m very happy for our fans. We know the importance of this game and how everyone lives with the results all year. I’m very happy for our players, especially our seniors. For them to finish the regular season like this is incredible. This was a dominant performance. It was Clemson’s largest margin of victory over South Carolina since 1900. What a way for these seniors to go out. They were ready from the opening snap.

“Our defense was tremendous all night. Offensively, we dropped a couple of touchdown passes, but overall we played great. We ran the ball, dominated the line of scrimmage and came away with 40 first downs. Deshaun (Watson) was unbelievable. He played lights out. We were able to sub a lot in the third quarter, and all those guys played well. I’m really proud of our preparation. What a great night for football.

“We’re division champs and state champs, and now we’re looking to be ACC champs. Virginia Tech will be tough, but we’re looking for our 16th ACC title. There’s still a lot of opportunity left for us. It’s fun when you can see the finish line. We’re going to empty our tank this week and get ready for a tough Virginia Tech team.

“I’m really proud of our team. Every senior skill player had a touchdown tonight – Wayne Gallman, Jordan Leggett, Mike Williams and Artavis Scott. There were a lot of big moments. You have to give credit to our offensive line…they dominated the game. I’m proud of our staff and our team. And again, I’m really happy for our fans.”

On emotions in a rivalry game:“Our players managed their emotions well tonight. You can’t be emotional in this game. You have to prepare for it and play totally locked in. Championship football comes down to one play at a time. We know the opportunity that’s left for us, but you have to dominate the moment. That’s what our guys did all night and I’m proud of them. We’re excited to come to work tomorrow and we’re excited to have another game on Saturday. That means we’re playing for a championship.”

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SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH WILL MUSCHAMP

Opening statement:“Not a lot to say. We got beat tonight by a better team. I don’t know what else to say. They have a good team across all three phases. We got whipped. On the road recruiting, that’s the way we need to change our program.”

On what he said to his team:“We’ll be ready for the next game.”

On Clemson’s scheme:“They are a very accurate team on all sides of the ball. We had some opportunities, but when you are in position, you have to make the plays.”

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CLEMSON PLAYER QUOTES – OFFENSE

Deshaun Watson, QB

On the first quarter:“We want to start off fast, jump on them real quick…that is the motto every game, to start off fast and put pressure on the opponent and have them back on their heels. We always try to score on the first 12 plays, and that is what we are going to do moving forward.”

On the curtain call:“It was great. I am thankful for our fans. They bring an awesome environment no matter who we are playing against or when we are playing. Death Valley is truly one of the best, if not the best, stadiums to play college football in, so I want to thank the fans, teammates, coaches and everyone who is part of this gameday atmosphere.”

Mike Williams, WR

On the mentality Clemson played with:“We had a few games like that this season, the Boston College game and the Syracuse game. It was just one of those days that we were hitting on all cylinders.”

On the final curtain call:“It felt good. Coach (Dabo) Swinney said he was going to give us one last time to go out there and let the fans show us some love, so it was good.”

On the impact of the environment:“It was kind of crazy. It felt like yesterday I was a freshman and now I am leaving, so it was a special moment.”

On his first quarter:“That is the mentality I always have, to go out there and dominate the man in front of me. That was mentality today, and everything turned out good.”

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CLEMSON PLAYER QUOTES – DEFENSE

Ben Boulware, LB

On the almost fumble return for a touchdown:“I had one of the best games of my season, so I’m not sweating one bad play.”

On South Carolina’s pregame warmups:“I was late to it. I think they were just trying to play mind games with us to get in our head. It’s fine.”

On knowing whether Clemson would dominate:“Absolutely. I knew watching film throughout the week. I could just tell. I know the guys we have and how well we were going to prepare. We have a Heisman (Trophy candidate) at every position. We knew from day one we were going to dominate, and that’s exactly what we did.”

Jadar Johnson, S

On the team’s goals for the game:“That was our goal going into this week…to dominate. Coming off the Pitt loss, we felt like we had lost a little focus, so coming back in, our main goal was to dominate like we know we could. We did good against Wake Forest, but we felt like we had to step it up another notch, because we want to keep getting better each any every week. We did that tonight.”

On being from South Carolina:“It definitely means more to me. It was really personal for me. I grew up down that way and I wanted to go to USC ever since I was little. I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder when it came to them. This was my first game actually starting against them, so I gave it all I had.”