No. 1 Clemson barely escaped Saturday's game against unranked North Carolina with a 21-20 win as coach Dabo Swinney admitted the Tigers weren't perfect.
"It's not easy to win," Swinney told reporters (via ESPN). "I know we're supposed to destroy everybody, like nobody else has scholarships, nobody else has coaches. It doesn't work that way. We're just normal people. There's nothing special about us. We're not perfect. We don't coach perfect. Unfortunately, we don't play perfect every down, every game, but we found a way to win an ugly game.
"But it's disrespectful to just put it all on us. You've got to give them some credit. Those kids played their heart out, and they coached their hearts out, and they played with tremendous will to win, but I'm proud of my guys because they found a way when we had to have it. We found a way."
Clemson entered Saturday's game as 28-point favorites, but ended up winning by just a point. The game came down to whether the Tigers could stop UNC's 2-point conversion attempt with just 1:17 left in the game.
"I've always had the theory that the longer the game goes, the best team wins, and they have the best team," North Carolina coach Mack Brown said. "So my thought was, 'Go now.' We've got momentum, they're tired, they're on the field, so that was the best chance for us to win the game."
The Tigers ultimately stepped up in a big moment to stop UNC and stay undefeated through the first five games of the season.
"There's been a game every year the past four years or so in this program where it's been close or we lost," Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who completed 18 of 30 yards for 206 yards with two total touchdowns, said.
"We know it's hard to win. Sometimes it's easy to forget that when you win so many games by so many points, but this game is only going to make us better. Obviously, we'd like to win every game by four touchdowns, but it's going to bring us closer and show us how to appreciate every win and like tonight, just finding a way."
Clemson has a week off before facing Florida State on Oct. 12.