Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said Tuesday the week off came at a good time for his team. The Tigers went 4-2 through the first half of the season with a 2-2 ACC mark. They have been eliminated from CFP consideration and are barely holding on regarding a chance to make the ACC Championship game, but Swinney sees a second half full of opportunity.
That second half begins this Saturday night at a Miami team which has lost their last two after a 4-0 start. Swinney said his team is as healthy as they can be and practiced Monday night with a lot of energy.
The Tigers have won four straight in a series they lead 7-6, and all four wins were blowouts, including a 40-10 victory in Death Valley last season. Clemson opened as a 10-point favorite but now the line has settled at Clemson by 3.5 points.
Some of Swinney’s key comments Tuesday:
- Team had great energy in practice last night coming off the off date, great week last week regarding what they needed to do for Clemson and getting ready for Miami.
- Very good Miami team, excellent quarterback, loaded at running back, really good up front, well coached, ton of depth and experience on defense.
- Top to bottom, Miami is a really good team. They’ve had two tough games go against them but they can beat anyone, just like his team can play with anyone in the country.
- They’ve created some momentum coming off the last two games, the break was good due to the injuries, expects to have everyone who is available to be ready to go at Miami.
- Got six tough games ahead of them, they can beat anyone but they can also lose to any team left on their scheduled.
- The Miami offense starts with the quarterback, he can create and extend plays and can make all the throws, they are a balanced offense, they’ve got to do things on defense to affect him.
- “We’re just a couple of plays from being undefeated. That’s a fact.”
- Robert Gunn was back kicking field goals last week, hopes to create some competition there and improve confidence there.
- 98.5% of the Clemson fans are great, there are 1.5% who are with them win or win, loves their fans, if you can’t believe in what they are doing after what they’ve done, then you’re not ever going to get on board.
- Klubnik is on the right track, doing all the right things and is just getting better, jokingly wished a reported hadn’t mentioned the 151 straight passes without an interception.
- Just halfway there, need to improve red zone on both sides, defense has been great, they can run the ball and stop the run, have a chance to have good finish but need to improve in a number of areas.
