Dabo Swinney explains the importance of Clemson's Week 5 win over NC State

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was feeling good following his team’s week 5 win over NC State, as they defeated the Wolfpack 30-20 in a top ten, prime time matchup that even garnered a visit from ESPN’s College Gameday. Swinney and the Tigers aren’t strangers to big games and moments, and their experience paid off for them last Saturday.

“It’s a top ten matchup, I didn’t know this until yesterday that it was their first ever top ten matchup, so I was curious to how many we’ve had, I don’t know that either,” Swinney admitted. “So I think this was our 28th or 27th in school history, maybe the 21st or so since 2012, and so we’ve had a lot of experience in those games.”

This may have been one of NC State’s biggest games in school history, but they did have a year of bragging rights headed into their game Saturday, as they defeated Clemson at home last season 27-21 in an overtime thriller.

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“I mean it’s a big one, a big big game, and they’re all big but this is a game, a team that beat us last year,” Swinney said. “A team I thought played more physical than we did, we didn’t win the trenches, we didn’t play smart, we were undisciplined, we jumped offside four times up there, we turned the ball over, you name it, we did not make plays.”

Clemson played a much cleaner brand of football this time around against NC State, not turning the ball over once and winning the time of possession battle, but they also made plays, as quarterback DJ Uiagalelei accounted for three touchdowns and kicker BT Potter accounted for three field goals.

“So to be able to come back this year and they’re basically the same team, they’ve got some dudes man, it’s like a coaching staff out there playing last two weeks between Wake and NC State. I mean they’ve got a bunch of guys on both sides of the ball that are captains, and all-conference players, and very experienced, played a lot of ball,” Swinney said.

There’s no question the Tiger’s two-week stretch was a tough one, facing two of the conference’s four ranked opponents in back-to-back weeks and earning two big wins. Clemson has been playing big, and their head man likes what he seen so far not only from his players so far this season.

“So to come back and play the way we did this year, I’m just really proud of our players, I’m proud of our staff, the staff is growing too. The staff is growing, the staff is developing, and so we’re in a good spot and see if we can find a way to win another one,” Swinney said.