Lawrence: Mistakes Were 'Frustrating'

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence has forgotten more football than most people can remember. Through the first five games of the season, he believes he has an understanding of what the North Carolina Tar Heels did to slow down the Tiger offense—which was expected to be one of the most dynamic in college football.

CLEMSON—Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence has forgotten more football than most people can remember. Through the first five games of the season, he believes he has an understanding of what the North Carolina Tar Heels did to slow down the Tiger offense—which was expected to be one of the most dynamic in college football.

"I probably could a little bit better right after the game but... I mean, they did a lot of two saftey looks with pressure," Lawrence said. "So, that's something a little bit different. The teams, usually when they bring pressures, is one safety. So, it's a little bit more clear. They did a good job of bringing some pressure two safetys on offenses, some pressure with depth.

"So, free safety would be like 10 yards and he'd come with the snap. So, usually when you're looking at pressure you're saying, okay, based on the structure who's closest. And the way their construction of the defense is, you can't tell who might come and who could have the chance. And they did a good job of bringing guys where pre-snap it didn't look like they were going to blitz that guy. So, they did a good job there."

However, it is not only the opposing defenses that have slowed down the Tiger offense—the Tigers have hurt themselves. Missed opportunities abound when he looks at the film and presnap penalties turned scoring drives into punting situations.

"I mean it's definitely frustrating. So, the penalties for sure, some of the stuff that we just got to work on communicate a little bit better," Lawrence. "And, some of that's on me too, we just switched the cadence at one point. We thought we could move out of the silent count, and it was still a little bit too loud there. And that was on me I'll take responsibility for that. But then just some of the other stuff we can work on, just communicating better and holding our water when... Holding the counts for awhile the defense is getting antsy just sitting there."

"I think there's a lot of them just not throwing a great ball," Lawrence continued. "I mean, it sounds simple but just missing on throws I can make, and I'm just missing them. And also some of them might be seeing things a little late so I'm seeing it right as the pressure's getting to me instead of a second earlier where I can step into my throw and make a better throw. It's kind of both of those things.

Even with the Tigers understanding of what they can and need to do better, the Tigers did not rest on just knowing through the bye week. Instead they put their knowledge into action, as they took to the practice field to prepare for a Florida State team that is a lot different than the one they beat by seven touchdowns last season.

"They're a good team and they're getting better every week," Lawrence said. "And think compared to last year they're a totally different team. Just have a lot more confidence. They've won some games, three and two and it was a really close game and Boise State that they could've won, so they have a lot of confidence coming in and they're a good team. A bunch of playmakers, Coach Swinney's talked to us about it. They have a ton of these big five star recruits that are really good players, so they're going to give us everything to have, like everyone does but, you know."

The task for the Tigers this week will be the same that it is every week: Don't let the outside noise influence the job at hand. Or maybe more simply put: Don't let Clemson beat Clemson.

"I think everyone has expectations for the year and obviously you want to start out well, and I mean we're 5-0 and it can't really be any better than that from a record standpoint," Lawrence said. "There's some areas where we can get better but I think as far as just expected to be better than we are, I think five and 0 is as good as you get. So we're happy with that, but definitely know that we can do a lot better.

"If you look at that (outside) stuff, a lot it can get frustrating just because I mean we're the only ones that really know our team and what we're doing, how we're, how hard we're working to be the best we can be. And also just, it is a learning process. This is the new team. It's not the same makeup as last year, but I mean, it's kind of nice now where everyone says we suck, so we're kind of in the backseat, so it's nice we can just go to work and not really worry about all the number one expectations and all that. So it'll be good."