The play that defines Trevor Lawrence

However, even with the frustration of not having his best night passing the ball, Lawrence showed the type of leader that he was on one play. That play was an interception.

CLEMSON — Trevor Lawrence's Heisman campaign did not take off like many had expected in the Tigers 52-14 win over Georgia Tech Thursday night.

Lawrence finished the night 13-23 for 168 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. However the coaches believe that Lawrence's struggles were more about what Georgia Tech did rather than what Lawrence did.

“This was actually a tough game to get prepared for," co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said. "We didn’t quite know what to expect, and we knew we would have to get into the game and make some adjustments. Early on they [Georgia Tech] did some good things with their coverages, so that limited things early on."

That sentiment was echoed by his fellow coordinator Jeff Scott, who added that Georgia Tech chose a "slow death."

“They played a lot of coverage," Scott said. "We want to be able to be a balanced team and we want to have an opportunity when they’re giving us the throwing game to be able to execute that. When they’re letting us run the ball, [we want to] take it. A quick death or a slow death. We really thought they were going to play a lot of man coverage and we were going to get a lot of opportunities.”

However, even with the frustration of not having his best night passing the ball, Lawrence showed the type of leader that he was on one play. That play was an interception.

Facing a second-and-7 from their own 39, the Tigers' quarterback, and, by their own admission, the coaching staff, were fooled. The result of the play was an interception that appeared destined for to be a pick-6, but Lawrence had other ideas.

“I thought I had a quick throw to the outside and the corner made a good play," Lawrence said. "Right when I threw it, I thought, ‘this is going to be a pick.’ I just tried to make a play and give our defense a chance.”

And all his defense needed was a chance. Four plays later, safety Denzel Johnson intercepted a pass in the end zone and ended the threat.

"I will tell you this if you want to know what Trevor Lawrence is made of, you just go back to that interception," head coach Dabo Swinney said. "You talk about setting the tone for the for the team, and setting the tone for a goal line stand when you see your quarterback go and make up."

It was just Monday that Swinney showed his team the final play in the Hawaii-Arizona game in Week 0, where a hustle play, in which a player that was completely out of the play, stopped a game-winning touchdown half-a-yard shy of the end zone.

For Swinney, what he saw out of Lawrence confirmed the kind of player that he has leading his team.

"I mean you know bad things happen. I mean it's just the game," Swinney said. "I mean they got good players and nobody's perfect, and but it's how you respond to those things. It would have been very easy for him to kind of have that losers limp. Kind of lazy loaf. You know, 'I can't get him man.' 

"He didn't hesitate he took an angle he was hauling tail, and he was on he was on a mission to not let that guy score. And that set the tone for the defense to go out there and have a goal line stand. So ... that's I talk about the eye of the tiger and a heart of a champion all the time. And it's kind of a hard thing to describe but you know it when you see it, and you know it when you don't— and well, that was it that's what it looks like."