Miami Hurricanes Football: Miami HC Mario Cristobal
Postgame Press Conference Transcripts: Clemson
Sat., Oct. 21, 2023
Hard Rock Stadium
Opening Statement…
“Good evening. Thank you for hanging in there. Obviously, very proud of our players. Very proud of our program for showing just a ton of resiliency, toughness and coming out and really just playing every snap with just a lot of juice, a lot of energy, executing at a higher level. Certainly, the value of each snap showed for us today. We didn’t turn the ball over. We forced some turnovers. Emory [Williams] got the call a little bit later in the week. It was a little bit of a surprise to us. We thought we were okay with Tyler [Van Dyke], but I couldn’t be more proud of a young guy to step in there and do the things he did. Early on in the game he was a little bit fast but as he settled he got better and better. The offensive line, the entire defense, what a performance by those guys. All in all, a lot of good stuff, some stuff to clean up. You know, some happy guys in the locker room right there today. Right back to work tomorrow.”
On the importance of a win like this…
“Well, I’m sure you all saw the stats on how Clemon’s last games against Miami, the average margin victory was 39 points or something like of that nature. They didn’t forget anything. They scored on us with 16 seconds last year as the clock was winding down to. So, I think our guys came out with a lot to prove. I think it shows how much the gap has closed with one full class, a couple of transfers and some player development within the program. So, we knew that progress was very tangible. You could see it in our systems working, but to actually go out there and pull through and push through against a veteran team, it validates a lot and also increases our appetite to go get a win.”
On the physicality of the game…
“About a year ago, physically, they really worked us. It was a bad day. Obviously, our guys have been working hard. There were a lot of personnel enhancements, up front at the line of scrimmage. They just took the field with an attitude of not being denied and really committed to making this a slugfest, making this a game of body blows. We talked about how games like this are 15-round heavyweight fights and rounds 11 through 15 separate you. I’m just proud of those guys, man. They played hard; they played well. They got it done.”
On the demeanor of Emory Williams…
“It’s what he is. We knew that this was going to be a tough challenge for him. Clemson has an excellent defense; I believe they are first in the conference or what not. The speed of their defense is very challenging, so we figured that, early on, there was going to be an adjustment. And you saw we had some batted balls and we had some throws that were a little bit late. The line protected him fairly well, but they got in a couple times and hit his arm and what not. As the game went on and on, he just settled in. He’s a very urgent guy. He approaches everything with a ton of urgency…Our players really played hard for him and for each other. They were just convicted on not letting him or each other down.”
On the fourth-down play in double OT…
“Every time you study team down in that part of the field, you feel like you have to zero in on their library, on their menu. We called a timeout on the down so that if we were going to get that particular formation, we had an answer, but also to get the guys together, round them up and discuss it…He’s a dangerous quarterback with his feet, he’s pulled the ball before to win games. Awesome job by the dive player and an unbelievable job by Corey Flagg, Jr.”
On winning at home…
“We’ve been playing really well at home, albeit the end of our last game at home. We really want to make Hard Rock a really tough place to play, where the Canes will not be denied, and we took another step in that direction today.”
Miami Hurricanes Football: Clemson HC Dabo Swinney
Postgame Press Conference Transcripts: Clemson
Sat., Oct. 21, 2023
Hard Rock Stadium
Opening Statement…
“First of all, congratulations to Miami. It was a hard-fought win. There were ebbs and flows of the game on both sides, but they found a way to win. And we found a way not to win. It’s just an unbelievably disappointing game. What we want, we have to deserve, and we didn’t deserve what we wanted. We wanted to win, but we didn’t deserve it. We deserved exactly what we got. When you turn the ball over the way we turned the ball over, it’s hard to win. Going in, we were about to score a touchdown and we fumble the ball. Then we had another red-zone turnover. So, obviously the turnovers for us, it’s like a broken record. Our best players have to play well. And right now, we’re just not doing some of the things we need to do, so it’s frustrating. Turnovers were the difference in this game in the end. The score that we fumble in the endzone could’ve been the difference in the game. You know, the other turnover down there could’ve changed the game. So, it was turnovers. We gave up the one big run and, at the end of the day, we overcame all of that crap and we have a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and we can’t finish.
“So, you’ve just got to give Miami credit. We did not stop the run in the fourth quarter and they earned it. We got exactly what we deserved. We turned the ball over and we did not run the ball well, but they certainly did. Especially that one play, and then all of the fourth quarter. We played pretty good for three quarters. It’s disappointing. We just tried to do too much. Tough game. I’m proud of our guys for competing. They never quit and they battled. They overcame a lot of adversity in the first half and most of it was self-inflicted. We put ourselves in a position to win with the 10-point lead and we didn’t finish. You’ve just got to give Miami a ton of credit. And for us, we’re 4-3, which is exactly what we deserve. I feel like I’m reliving 2010 all over again. It’s like every game, it’s crazy. Two overtime losses, and obviously the game at Duke where we had four trips inside the 10-yard line and got no points. So, it’s obviously very frustrating. I don’t understand why things happen sometimes, but I do understand we’ve got to just keep moving. We’re going to show up on Monday, just like I’ve always done for the last 15 years. Show up, get back to work and find a way to win a game this week. And it doesn’t get any easier. We’ve got to go back on the road next week. It’s really not complicated. We did a lot of good things, we really did. We made a lot of plays; we just didn’t finish. [Jonathan] Weitz gave us a chance, it’s good to see him make some big kicks. I think [Jake] Briningstool had more yards this game than any other tight end has had in the history of the school. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t take advantage of opportunities when we had them. You’re on the road and you let teams hang around like that, you’ve just got to take your hat off to Miami. Down 10 in the fourth quarter, and they fought back. We didn’t finish, so they deserve it, we didn’t. We’ll get ready on Monday to see if we can find a way to win a game this week.”
On the final play of the game…
“It was a handoff. 100 percent. We had called a handoff. He just pulled it. I got no answer. We were just trying to do too much. It wasn’t RPO, it was a give and we just didn’t do it.”
On success of the offense at the start of the game…
“We made a lot of plays; we made a bunch of plays. It’s good to see Tyler Brown bounce back, make some really nice plays in the game, to go execute big plays, that there was a lot of tight coverage, and it’s good to see us make competitive plays. We just should’ve had a couple more scores and we just didn’t do it. And I mean it’s incredibly frustrating, my heart breaks for our players. And you know Clemson means a lot to love me and we work really hard, I mean we had one of the best weeks of practice we have had all year…And they come right out of the gate just to hold the ground.”
