Lawrence: 'Let's Go Win This Thing

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and quarterback Trevor Lawrence give a behind-the-scenes look at their final game-winning drive.

Trailing 23-21 with three minutes and change remaining in their season, the Clemson Tigers were faced with the challenge of going 94 yards against the No. 2 ranked defense for a chance to advance to the College Football Playoff National Championship or see their season, and 28 game winning streak come to an end.

Many people may wonder what was said in those final moments before the Tigers historic game-winning drive. 

"Well, I just said, 'Let's go win it, man.' Trevor [Lawrence] kind of took over the huddle, to be quite honest with you," Swinney said. "He called the guys up, and he just said, 'Hey, man, I love all of you guys. Let's go win this thing.' It was just a real poise. There was never one second that I did not think we were not going to win the game. That's the honest answer. Trevor and I talked about it on the sideline, 'Man, is this fun or what? I'm not real sure how we're going to win this thing, but we're going to win the game and it is going to be an epic thing.'"

The Tigers' needed only three plays before Lawrence found running back Travis Etienne for a 34-yard touchdown, but there were several plays that ultimately set up the game-winning play.

"We were 10 personnel and put our best athletes on the field. This is what we do. We're four-down territory the whole way," Swinney said. "We've got plenty of time. left, so let's go win the game. He [Trevor Lawrence] had a nice quarterback draw. We hit Amari [Rodgers]. Amari kind of had been quiet and hadn't had much opportunity. I told Amari, you're going to get a big play somewhere. Just stay focused, stay ready. It was a huge play by Amari. Just again, I think we came right out, hit a slant maybe to [Justyn] Ross, just to kind of get us some rhythm. When you're putting drives together at the end of the game like that, and getting in rhythm early, getting that first down is critical. We were able to do that, and then just made big plays."

The thing that few people knew, was that Lawrence did not like the play call because the Tigers had a lot of trouble in the previous weeks getting the play to work like it was designed.

"I actually went over and met with him right before the last drive there, and we talked about two or three things that I felt like we had set up," Swinney added. "And one of them was the play to Travis [Etienne]. We had run a little quarterback counter a couple of times there. So it was set up. Don't have to have great protection. It is a really hard run fake. He really executed it beautifully and Travis found a way to get through the trash and took it to the distance."

"Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of the play in practice, because it's tough if the defense doesn't really bite on it and that safety comes down hard," Lawrence said. "It takes it away. I was a little bit -- I felt like it was good because of how well we set it up throughout the game and thought it was going to work then. Throughout the week, I was like I don't really like this play. In the moment, we had a chance."

"It's tough. You've got guys off the edge coming. O-line did a really good job holding them off. It is a weird play for them. It is a run pass-type blocking. For them to hold off long enough and for Travis [Etienne] to find his own and sit down. Like said, I threw it to him, but after that, his running for the catch was unbelievable."

 According to Swinney, there was a moment of wondering if his offense may have scored too quickly. But in the end, it was fitting that it was the Tiger defense that ended up coming up with the play to seal the game

"I thought we might have scored a little too quick, but it was kind of like, Maybe he was down at the one, but then it's up to your defense to go win the game," Swinney said. " Listen, they went right down -- they made plays. That's a well-coached team, and that team has a lot of heart and character as well."