Sept. 25, 2007
No. 40 Mike Cox, Senior, Fullback
Do you see this as an elimination game?
“We all know that our backs are definitely against the wall. We’re going to have to give it our best this week. Every ACC game is a big game. A great team is coming up so we are just going to have to take it one team at a time and hopefully come out with a win. “
What can help with the consistency of the offense?
“That’s the thing with playing on offense, if one person doesn’t do their job right it can mess everything up. We need to just have everyone on the same page. I have good faith in the coaches this week. We’re going to have hard practices to get us all on the same level, so we can play together as a team offensively.”
How much does it help having you guys play Clemson at home?
“Whenever we have a chance to play here at Bobby Dodd and have home field advantage, we will take every advantage we can get over Clemson to help us come out with a win. It’s just nice not having to travel and it always gives the offense and our team a boost when fans are cheering for us instead of getting booed. So it mentally helps us get a little edge.”
No. 64 Andrew Gardner, Junior, Tackle
What do you remember from last year’s game against Clemson?
“Well they jumped out on us quick. The two running backs played a very good game and we really couldn’t get our offense going. That was a game where we hung in there a little bit. We kept it close enough that if we could have caught a break, we could have made something happen but it just never happened for us. They were playing good, the fans were really into it, it was as if they kept playing better as the game went on.”
How do you look at Clemson, who did what they did to you last year, and get yourselves in a place to have a good chance?
“You just watch film to see what they do and see what you have to do to win. I have a lot of confidence in this team even though we haven’t played well the last two weeks, just caught some bad breaks, didn’t play as well as we should have. I still think we have a good team here. And if we play smart football and we play the way we can I think we can win.”
What is the key to success against teams that have beaten you the previous year (last year you beat Virginia Tech, this year you beat Norte Dame)?
“I think it is important to understand that it’s not the same team, you can’t think they beat us last year so they are going to beat us this year. They may have the same coach and a lot of the same players, but it is a different team, it’s a different year. You can’t get too caught up in what happened the year before, you just have to worry about the game plan and what you are trying to do in this game and take care of your job and play your best this year.”
No. 41 Philip Wheeler, Senior, Linebacker
This is probably the best offense in the ACC, how do you slow down a team like this?
“Just get everybody to the ball. We have to have everybody running to the ball and play as a unit. There is only one ball, whoever has it we have to tackle them, put them on the ground.”
