Clemson coach Dabo Swinney was at his sermonizing best Tuesday morning during his press conference to preview the ACC Championship Game against Virginia. He spent the requisite amount of time breaking down the Cavaliers, then the presser tailed off into Swinney’s favorite topic of the last few weeks…his undefeated team, on a 27 game winning streak, and why anyone would question if they are the best team in the country. Swinney was passionate, animated and direct in his argument that, while he believes the ACC is a good league, it’s not about who they have played, it’s about how they have played each week.

Some of Swinney’s top comments Tuesday

• Impressed with the Virginia offense, very good receivers group, tight end is good, lot of option principles, and the quarterback is a “wow” guy. When things break down, Perkins makes things happen.
• Virginia is a pass first offense, RPO stuff, designed quarterback run plays. Very good scheme for their personnel.
• Virginia defense is very good at rushing the quarterback, among the best in the country at sacks, they do a good job stopping the run, put an extra guy in there to stop the turn, and very good on third down defense.
• On if Bryce Perkins will be the best quarterback they’ve faced this season: “The best quarterback we face is in practice.”
• Media should focus more on who they are and not who they play.
• Lawrence is twice the quarterback today than he was in the national championship game of last season. Swinney doesn’t think his team is being portrayed accurately by the talking heads. “We’ve been great all year. We’ve dominated 11 out of 12 teams.”
• “This team has not been portrayed properly. We’re 10-1 against the SEC, 6-1 against the West. Oh, but Trevor Lawrence threw an interception. They put that on a loop.”
• “If there’s a running back award and Travis Etienne isn’t a finalist for the award, they shouldn’t have the award.” Swinney (Etienne was not a finalist for the Doak Walker Award)

Dabo Swinney press conference previewing Virginia