Clemson defensive end Myles Murphy spoke to the media on Monday, Oct. 3 ahead of Saturday’s game versus Boston College.
The Clemson defense struggled against Wake Forest but came out resurgent versus the Wolfpack on Saturday. The Tigers held the Wolfpack to just 290 total yards and just 4 yards per play. Murphy believes the shift in performance came as a result of putting the mistakes against Wake Forest to rest at the start of last week.
“I know from last week, the defense didn’t have the best game and I talked about it with someone and I think it’s kind of a good and bad thing,” he said. “The defense kind of needed a game like that to know what it feels like to not have the best game and know what we need to do to prevent that from happening. Having that short-term memory of forgetting it and going on to the next play and then when that game’s over, remembering the bad and growing from that.”
Murphy, who picked up an impressive four tackles and 1.5 sacks against the Wolfpack, was candid that he knew he needed to step up from what we’ve seen out of him this season. It may have been the “loafing” comments made by coach Dabo Swinney following Murphy’s performance versus Furman, that fueled him to come out in such a dominant way last Saturday.
“I hear the message and I hear his intent,” he said. “His intent is to see how I’m going to respond to that. Calling me out, I really just have to respond and have my film speak for itself honestly.”
Murphy felt that although this past game against NC State was a step in the right direction, there is still work to be done to take his game to the next level. He realizes that although he may be his harshest critic, improvement needs to be made through the remainder of the season.
“Personally, not too well,” he said. “I have always been a hard grader, even for some of my best games. Some people would think are my best games, I have probably graded myself as so many things could have been so much better and that’s with any game with anybody. Something can always be improved, but I’m always my hardest critic.”
“There still a lot I could of improved on,” he said. “Some pass rushes I could have improved on, run plays, playing the run. Always something to improve on.”
With much of the week left to prepare for the Boston College offense, Murphy gave his quick take in what he expects to face from them.
“I watched a little bit of film on them and very run heavy, good pass direction, and a very accurate quarterback who can hit his spots on the run,” he said.
Murphy emphasized to the media that the defense will have to dialed in at practice and look to keep up the intensity we saw versus NC State as the Tigers prepare to hit the road to face Boston College.
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