Lawrence Looking Forward to Bye Week
CLEMSON — Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is only two years removed from high school, but a lot can change in two years — even an outlook on having a bye week, or two.
"I'm excited for a week off. In high school, I hated open weeks," Lawrence said ahead of the Tigers' second bye week of the season. "I just wanted to keep playing. In college, I think it's a little harder on your body and the season is longer so I enjoy the weeks off a little bit more."
However, one might think that it would be difficult to look forward to a week off after the way that Lawrence has played the last six games.
Lawrence's game has taken a step to another level since the first quarter of the Tigers' game at Louisville, in which he threw two very bad interceptions.
Since the second quarter of that game, Lawrence has completed 86 of 111 (77.4 percent) for 1,265 yards, 16 TDs, 0 INTs. His streak of 111 passes without a pick is second longest active streak by a Power 5 Conference quarterback.
According to Lawrence, this past month of games is the best he has played — ever.
"I think it's the best I've played holistically," Lawrence said. "Making good decisions. Taking care of the ball. And even on the plays where most people wouldn't notice, like the little things I think I've done a good job. Can still make improvements, like doing a better job of finding the back."
The improvements started, coincidentally, when Lawrence's status as the Heisman front-runner changed to Heisman long shot.
The reason that his play, and that of the Tiger offense, took off was simple — he stopped worrying about the expectations and found the fun that led the Tigers to the national championship last season.
"That's probably one of the bigger things." Lawrence said. "Playing for myself, my teammates, and this program. And not worrying about the expectations on me. Just having fun and enjoying the moment."
In their 52-3 win over Wake Forest Saturday, the Tigers list of accomplishments continued to grow, as they joined 1944 Army and 1972 Nebraska as the only teams in the AP Poll era to win four consecutive games by 45 or more points.
They also won a sixth straight game by 30 or more points to break a tie with 2013 Florida State for the longest such streak in conference history. Clemson held an 11th straight opponent below 300 yards of total offense to become the first team since the turn of the century to open a season holding opponents below 300 yards in each of the first 11 games. ESPN Stats & Info says it is the first such occurrence in records back to 1996.
Clemson reached 50 points in a fourth straight game for the first time in program history, and has now scored 45 points in six consecutive games for the first time in school history. The streak matches the 2013 Florida State Seminoles for the longest in ACC history.
"I was still having fun but I think I was thinking a little too much about what I need to do to live up to expectations, and I think it's easy to start thinking about those things," Lawrence said. "It's been good to play free and not really worry about that stuff. I feel confident in what I'm doing and what we're doing, so I'm not really worried about what people say."
