a C. C. Championship game in the great city of charlotte. Super excited about that and to represent the atlantic. Um You know, certainly uh you know, a big goal of ours, we weren't able to achieve last year. Uh so you know, winning the division this year and and in particular, you know, the last year of of of the divisions, I think that was kind of a another goal within our goals this year. But so we're excited about the opportunity to still be playing and look forward to the trip up there. We've got a great amount of respect for um you know, coach Brown and the job he's done at north Carolina um and the year that they've had got a lot of uh dynamic playmakers that we've been able to see, you know, throughout the year, you know, uh none more so than their quarterback. You know, he's had a Heisman type year. So um it's gonna be should be a great venue and a great night there in charlotte. Again. Looking forward to uh you know, competing against a great team. All right, thanks coach. Um as always, with the zoom call, If you have a question, please raise your hand with loud folks on today. So I'll try to get to as many as as possible. First up is Trevor Groves, Trevor, go ahead. Hey coach. Um it was an epic meeting the last time you played the tar heels in 2019 in Chapel Hill. Um just what do you remember about that game and uh what can you say about the job that Matt Brown has done with this program? He's done an amazing job. I mean just I think coming in and really uh you know just you know building a culture and solidifying their organization and uh you know impacting the recruiting which ultimately impacts the product on the field. And so he's done a wonderful job of that. Um They've got a lot of great players. Uh They they he's got an excellent staff and uh so that particular game was was a crazy day I think it was an early game if I remember. But but you know came down to you know the last play and uh you know it was a great play by our guys. Uh you know I think it was uh remember correctly maybe Schakowsky was in on that play. Um But it was it was a go in Isaiah Simmons. Maybe it was another one in on that one. But um tough tough hard fought game as was the last time we played them in the A. C. C. Championship game. Um That was that was a play that came down to an onside kick. So a lot of respect for these guys and and you know the type of program that they have and the players that they have within it. Okay our next question will go to Andrea Adelson Andrea go ahead Devil when you reviewed the tape from yesterday's game in terms of some of the struggles in the passing game. How much of that was on DJ, how much of that was on the receivers. The line, I know there's a lot of moving parts, but you know, do you have a clearer idea today? Kind of what went into some of those struggles? Oh yeah, much clearer idea. But it's uh, you know, it was a combination of a lot of things. We had no really one time early we had bringing stool wide open and uh, you know, we, we uh, get hit and, you know, did not do a good job protecting on that particular play. I mean, wide open. And then we had another time we missed the throw to Antonio who was, who was open and then we hit him and we dropped it and then we had a couple more and we dropped it and, and so we had some critical drops and some misplays. Uh, you know, and and those things add up and next thing, you know, the turnovers with empty possessions, you turn over a kick return, you turn over a punt return, now you're out of rhythm and then you have some drops and a few misplays along the way and, and it's uh, it's a recipe for getting beat. So, you know, but our kids competed. I love that how they competed. Uh, you know, again, you just got to congratulate south Carolina, They found a way to win the game. We certainly had plenty of opportunity to win it and we did not, we didn't get it done and the turnovers really hurt us and caught up with us and some big plays on defense. So it was a combination of a lot of things. Uh you know, certainly BJ had some plays that he'd like to have back, but you know, he wasn't, he was not, he was a long way away from being the reason we lost the game that's for sure. Um, so he doesn't return kicks and play safety and and and you know, catch the ball. Uh he can only control his part. But you know, all of those things I think affect, you know, just your psyche and the rhythm of the game and so forth. But you know, again, um I still love how they competed, a lot of, lot of tough things within the game, but you know, competed all the way to the end. And unfortunately we didn't get a chance there to kick with the last fumbling, the punt return. That was kind of the final uh final deal there. But just got to congratulate south Carolina and Shane and for those guys finding a way to win the game because they just wanted, okay, our next question is from matt, Connolly, go ahead, matt in addition to the passing game. Just what else kind of stood out both good and bad um, about yesterday's game and what went right, what went wrong when you went back and watched it? Yeah, well, I mean, you know, just again misplays, uh turnovers, um and then some some critical big plays on defense where we just uh didn't do what we needed to do and uh so you know, And they and they made us pay for it, but you know, had had had a couple of miscues upfront um as well, but just a combination of all those things and in a game like that, I mean, it's a rivalry game, it's it's it's a few plays, but more than anything, uh missed opportunities with the drops, a couple of misplays. Uh and and the turnovers. I mean, again you get the safety and you get a nice little kick return to the 30 something there and You know, you got one of your best players and balls loose and just just kind of, you know, away from his body and comes out. And then, you know, you got even with all the stuff that that had gone on, you still got a chance there at the end, you're gonna have a first down right there at midfield about 48 and you know, you get one more fumble. So special teams, the two to return the two returns that that we got no opportunity with those are empty possessions, the field position, their partner was tremendous. We had a lot of, you know, tough field position, but we did a lot of good things in the game too. I know we like to focus on all the bad when we lose, but there were a lot of good things in the game, uh, that we'll see when we watched the tape as well. But you know, just just didn't do what we need to do to win the game and you have to win those type of games. We had plenty of opportunity, 20 to 2 plays, three plays, you win it. Um, but you got to give their guys credit because they were behind the whole game. They trailed the entire game and they just kept battling and then, uh, you know, the field goal, put them up there in the fourth quarter and we weren't able to to respond and again, some, some huge missed opportunities, you know, three big drops. Um, you know, that I felt like could have, could have made a difference for us, but you know, just wasn't our day. Okay. Our next question is from Larry, Williams. Larry gonna have the question. Sorry, can you hear me? I can now. Okay sir, I apologize. I had my, my mute on accidentally. Um, can you share what, how you're moving forward with the quarterback situation this week? Is DJ still the guy, um, what have you concluded, I guess as of this afternoon. So are you asking me if he's the reason we lost? No, no, I'm not. I'm just, I'm just curious if he's still the starter. Yeah, he's still the starter. Yeah, still a starter, he didn't, he's not the reason we lost the game and he can't catch it, you know? And again he doesn't play safety and he doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't return kicks. Um, so he's got his share of things that he can do better. But um, you know, he's, he will, he will definitely start the game. Okay. Our next question is from Leo Haggerty, Go ahead. Leo, You're dealing not only with a loss, but a lot of other things. First time in eight games with South Carolina, first home loss in 40, You don't want this to fester into a 2nd 1. What are you gonna have to do this week to make sure you get over this game? Well, just like we've always done, you go back to work and you move on to the next opponent. That's what we've always done. Um, you know, you know, all those things are great and we, we've done all those things. But uh, you know, the last time we lost, we went back to work. Um, and that's what you do, this is the championship game. This is gonna be another great venue and great environment to teams that really want to win. But you know, you, you, you keep good perspective learn, you teach, you know, you, you uh, make sure your guys understand what's reality and what's not, especially at a place like Clemson when you lose a game. Um, and then, you know, you lose, I mean, I wish we'd have won eight in a row. Uh, we didn't, we had our opportunity to, but you know, somewhere along the line, you got to give the opponents of credit too. And uh, you know, their kids earned it and we had plenty of opportunities and didn't do what we needed to do. So, um, and as I said, yesterday is probably the reason why no one's won eight in a row in this series. It's hard to do in a rivalry game and we've had a lot of great days and yesterday wasn't one of them. So, you know, you learn from it and you move on to the next one, just like what's led to all of our consistency when we've won a game, we do the same thing, We don't linger around in that either. We learn from it and we move on to the next one. So really no different than anything that we, we always do. Thank you. Coach. Okay, our next question is from David, thiel David, Go ahead with your question. Yeah. But when your opening statement, you said that Drake May was having a Heisman type season, you have competed against and coached some of the best young quarterbacks in this league has ever seen. Does drake may have some common traits with a Trevor Lawrence or Jamis Winston, He's, he's a great one. I mean, I know they've had a couple of tough games, but again you know he can only do his job right uh And not that he's perfect or anything like that but he is uh you know teams win and but he's he's got all the actual we recruited him we offered him we we love him coming out of high school so and nothing's changed. I mean he's a great great player. Um You know with with he's a winner. You know he's got a great competitive streak to him. That's what I like about him most. He's incredibly competitive. Um And he just has a lot of confidence that he can make the play required but he's got a nice arm. He sees it, he's got a high football I. Q. He's an excellent leader. You see all those things so he can move around and he can do he can run with it and he can do a little bit of everything. So he's a complete he's a complete player at that position. I see over your right shoulder a diagram of Sofi Stadium which is where the C. F. P. Final is. Do you have to adjust some team goals now in the wake of yesterday? Uh Not really. I mean you know we didn't achieve the goal that we had yesterday. So you know we still have we've got two goals left and that is uh to win the A. C. C. And to win the closer so we don't have to adjust anything. Um you know we've got a chance to hit four out of our five goals and uh you know if we do that we're gonna have had a great year for sure. But um yeah that's that's that's been there since the summer. Um I think one of the operations guys brought that back so uh I guess I won't need the directions to it. But yeah I appreciate you pointing that out. It's been there and even notice it's been there been there always is some been there a long time. But um you know that and again that's that's that's not a goal. You know it's not there's nothing in here that says win the national championship, our goals to win the opener, you know win the division, win the state, win the A. C. C. And win the closer. And when we've done that we've won the national championship. You know our goals are set up to allow us to compete at the highest level. But the reason that it doesn't say we win the national championship on there is because we don't control that right? I mean we can win all of our games and somebody could say no you don't qualify right? So you know we set our goals up that allow us to compete at the highest level and that's where out for us a lot this year. You know we're not gonna hit all five but we do have an opportunity still to to hit four out of five and if we do that we're gonna have another great year here and uh and keep moving forward so uh this is a huge goal for us always has been and uh you know when you when we've won the league it's always lead to to bigger things and uh so uh you know and and not winning the state championship a couple of times along the way in our past has kept us out of some bigger opportunities. You know we've not won our state championship, won the league and in the Orange Bowl etcetera. Um But you know when we've hit all five we've we've we've been we've won it all a couple of times. So that's uh that's that's why they are what they are but we don't have to adjust anything you know we got two goals left and uh when the A. C. C. And win the closer and we hit those two goals we will have had a heck of a year here at Clemson. Alright. Our next question is from Chapel Fowler Chapel, go ahead with your question. Hey Deborah, you mentioned last night um wishing you had gotten Shipley the ball a little bit more in the second half after looking at the film, do you have a better idea of why that didn't happen. Uh Well I mean there's some some read things where it didn't happen and just just you know just the play call didn't go to and, and uh, and then again, we had um, MS, MS possession there at the end that, that hurt us, uh, some misplays that killed some sequence, more sequence of plays and opportunities there. But um, you know, definitely something, you know, 2020 hindsight is 2020 for sure. You know, wish wish we could have gone back and redone a couple of those. Okay, our next question is from ANna Adams and go ahead with your question. Hey, Dave. O um, Coach Streeter said after the game that Clemson wide receivers didn't particularly win against man coverage. Um, looking at the film, any reason why there was so much struggle there. Well, they did a good job on a couple of occasions. Uh, there were several times where they want and, and we, we didn't, you know, we dropped it or uh, we missed the throw or the protection let us down. But uh, they did a good job of really playing some, some outside technique, leverage and then we came back and made them pay for that hit both for a big play. Uh, but we, we missed a couple of other opportunities and then bow getting hurt was certainly a loss for us, but um, you know, definitely not our best day. Okay, our next question is from back to Andrea Adelson Andrea go ahead. Dave, oh, I think you have a negative turnover margin in your last five games. I'm just wondering if there's a common denominator there and how much of a concern that is headed into saturday? That's a huge concern, you know, because if we lose the margin this week, we'll lose the game. I mean, it's uh, you know, uh it's, I knew going into this game and when, when we've, when we've lost to these guys, that's been the common denominator is is, you know, the five game streak that we had at that point was we had 15 turnovers to their three. Um and this run that we had of seven in a row, we really did a great job of being even or better, you know, all but one time we were minus one and we still won in 15, but it was a really close like a five point game. Um, so it's a big concern going into this game and it's, and it's frustrating. Um and there's a lot of fundamental stuff, you know, just guys getting the ball out and away from their body and, you know, sometimes trying to do too much and it's it's been, it's been an issue these past five games, but we've also shown that we can do an outstanding job the first seven games, we had three turnovers. So we have shown that we can, you know, do a good job of that. But it's been a real problem, We're very fortunate to be three and two in those five games where we've lost the margin, Uh, that's, that's, that's amazing that we've been able to overcome that. Uh, and, and had an opportunity to overcome it yesterday. And, and again, just just couldn't quite get it done even with the lead for most of the game. All right, as a reminder, make sure to raise your hand if you have a question, we're gonna go back to Trevor Groves. Trevor, go ahead. Hey, coach, I'm speaking of, of turnovers, I'm curious about the gadget kickoff return. Um, it worked out nicely except for the fumble I'm off. Um, where did that come from? Exactly, yeah, it's just something we've had. You know, it's a good time to do it because, you know, you're gonna have a chance to return. And, and, and, and, and it, and it did, it did pop clean, almost popped big time, but it kind of got tripped up there and, and the same thing. It's not like he had some big hit, just, just the ball, He just kind of had the ball out from his body and, you know, just just came came loose there. So, uh, one of the best players we have and hand it to him over and over and over. Um, so we just gotta, it's gotta really coach our way and play our way through. It. It's a real, it's a real disappointment right now. And it's uh, definitely a huge factor in that game yesterday, You know, a couple of times. Again, 2 to 1 kick return, punt return, you got all the momentum, you know, on the kick return there after the safety. Um you know, you're you're up nine with a chance to get good field position and go get points and and you know, it's an empty possession and then obviously at the end there, you know, you feel good about your return and got a great kicker and and to not get the opportunity is very frustrating. But again, that's that's football, you know, when you compete in this arena in this world that we're in, um we've been we've been we've been more blessed than not. I mean, we it's it's bounced our way a lot. Um, but you have those days somewhere along the way where it doesn't and you know, that was a tough thing for us yesterday. Did you put that play in yourself? And have you seen somebody else run that play before? Yeah, we we've had that play in, we put it in. I've had it, you know, most of the year, but it was just a, like I said, just the right time to call it. But yeah, something that's been in our background for a long time. Thanks coach. All right. We'll go back to Larry Williams, Larry go ahead. Yeah, you mentioned the safety position, just curious for the day after evaluation on film of that position in general and Mayakoba in specific. Yeah, we had a rough day, tough day and but you know what, listen man, I love that kid and I told him that after the game, this kid, he's battled all year, uh you know, he didn't, he didn't practice uh monday and Tuesday and you know, he's out there, he had a little bit of a sore knee battle through that. He's obviously played with the elbow all year. He's a, he's an incredible competitor. He cares deeply and certainly was a game he's gonna want to forget. Um and you know, plenty of just fundamental things and discipline things and technique things that he can learn from. But he's gonna have a lot more good days than he does bad days in the game of football because he is a great player, a great competitor and, and he, you know, it's when you play that position, you know, there's nowhere to hide at times and so it is what it is. They're um we'd love to have a few plays back, but you don't get those plays back, but, but what you can do is you can learn from them and that's exactly what he'll do and you know, the fourth and one, I mean, and again we got, we turn them back over, but you know, you stop, I mean, it's a one person route and I mean, you know, we stopped him right there, you're gonna get points there. So just, you know, one of those, one of those plays in the game that that uh was was a very difficult play and then they got us on a little little double move later as well with again a nine point lead, so a tough day JP got banged up and J. P. Man, he came out and he had to go back in um you know, that's the one thing I will say about our guys man, I saw I saw a bunch of brothers out there competing for each other and really, I mean to the end they battled, they never, you know, quit, they kept believing and you know, that's it's all you can ask these guys, nobody wants to win more than them and you know, you just gotta just gotta keep teaching and growing them up and uh and learning and and put this one behind us and get ready to go compete uh you know, for this league title alright, we got time for about just two or three more matt Connelly, you're up next. Yeah, but I was just gonna ask, how do you, how do you feel like kate has been doing in practice and kind of been developing throughout this year? Doing good. Doing really good Alright. Our next question is from Leo Haggerty, go ahead Leo coach, you had a lot of key injuries, you had an ejection, did that affect the game plan on offense and defense with people in the game that I really didn't expect to have had in the game well, I mean it affects things. But you know, both sides have players out and things like that and you know, we we've got a, you know, we we had plenty of opportunity and you know, we're in position to win the game all the way to the end and just didn't do it. So, you know, everybody's got guys banged up, they lost a receiver, a really good player and I hope he's okay. I don't didn't look good on the field. Uh number six for them van when he came down. So um and everybody's dealing with with stuff, you know, before the game during the game and you know, our job is to find a way to win and we didn't we didn't do it. So um you gotta Congratulate them because they did and it's a big win and and um we'll learn from it and got to live with it. Gotta live with it for 300 something days. And again, it's been a long time since we've had this feeling thankfully and get ready for when that time comes again down the road. Okay. Our next question is from brian Murphy. Go ahead brian. Hey Coach Dave Doeren up at N. C. State said december has turned into one of his least favorite months of the year given uh roster management, um the early signing day transfer portal, everything that's happening, you know, plus having to get ready for games? How do you, how do you kind of balance all the things that need to be taken care of this month? That's a lot because you got recruiting and uh, you know, so we, we obviously are in the championship game this week. So, um, although they did make this a dead week used to for up until this year, this was recruiting started this week. So you know, we, we were in this game, um, I guess this is seven out of the last eight years that we've been in this game. Uh, so the previous six times we couldn't, we kind of missed the week cause we were getting ready for the championship game. Um, but as soon as the game is over, I mean literally, uh, sunday everybody's gone, everybody's out on the road. So there's a lot to do from a recruiting standpoint because, you know, we've got the signing day coming up and, and then uh, it's always been a lot bold, you know, getting ready for your bowl prep. Um, you know, getting your plan in place for that once you kind of know what you're, where you're going and who's your opponent and um, you know, there's always a lot of travel time and playing time and things like that, that you're just constantly working trying to, to get ready and so we'll have about, I think we got exactly two weeks to go recruit. Um, so we'll be busy with that and a week of that will be all recruiting and then another week of that will be recruiting slash practice, you know, where we'll depending on, you know, everybody's schedule and stuff, you know, you'll be, you know, maybe practice in the morning recruiting at night, you know, vice versa, um you do that for a week and then you've got that signing day on that Wednesday the 21st. Um and so, you know, fortunately uh for us, our classes, you know, almost done here and um you know, we've got a lot of guys committed and a lot of guys that'll be coming in uh early in january. So we kinda, we pretty much have a pretty clear picture on what our class is going to look like and we're super excited about the, the group that's coming in. Um but then you have the added piece of the transfer report on all that stuff that that has come about, that, that creates a different, just a different deal, you know, than, than we've had to deal with in the past because now your, your roster can look very different by the time you get to your bowl game. Uh so that's just, it just is what it is, it's everybody, everybody has to deal with it. Um and you just try to manage that and the very best you can. Alright seeing no other questions and at 4 28 we'll let coach go coach, really appreciate you joining us and we will see you in charlotte on friday at 2 45. Thank you appreciate it.