Barrett Carter speaks on moving past the Duke loss

There's nowhere to go but forward for this Clemson team. Where do they start?

The one good thing about a loss during a short week is that you don't have time to get stuck on what could have been. Barrett Carter knows this and spoke to reporters about what he's learned from game 1 and how he can help his teammates move on to Charleston Southern.

"Yeah, any game that we don't win you know I put a lot on myself," the senior linebacker said. "I feel like I left a lot on the field. I've watched even more film than we did as a team just figuring out what I need to do better myself, be a better teammate, and be a better leader for these guys."

Clemson Athletics

So how do Carter and his teammates go about correcting their mistakes? He was asked specifically about missing a tackle on Duke QB Riley Leonard and his answer essentially amounted to a "make the play however you have to, no excuses" mentality.

"I just gotta do anything I can in my power to get him down. If that's holding him by his shoelace or you know holding him by his jersey, whatever it may be I have to make that tackle and I know that myself, I'm my biggest critic, so I hold myself to the highest standard possible so I know that any way that I can get him down I have to do that in that situation. I just have to be better at the end of the day. I put that on me. If that play were to happen again I'm ready to make that play and celebrate with my teammates but I'm ready to move on. If that opportunity presents itself again I'm ready to make the play." 

It would be surprising, after that answer, if Carter misses any tackles this Saturday but how does he help his teammates carry that same mindset into a game where they should win but also need to prove themselves? The future NFL draft pick responded humbly but with confidence, "I think watching the film was huge because we realized that all of the stuff that we did it was on us. At the end of the day, we have to make the plays. Our coaches had a great scheme going in. I think watching the film really gave us a lot of clarification that we have what we need in the locker room and we just have to execute the plays that coaches call."

"I think that there's a lot of optimism going around with us just knowing that we have what it takes to be successful. We have all the tools. We have everything we need... I think we all know we need to step up to take that next step as a team to win out for the rest of the season."