CLEMSON: Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney was as optimistic as ever at his weekly press conference on Tuesday that his team can have a strong finish to the regular season and quality for a bowl game. The ACC and national championship are off the table, but there are still five games to go, including the state championship game against USC.
The Tigers, who lost at home to SMU before being off last weekend, are 3-4 overall and 2-3 in the ACC, their worst record going into the month of November since they were 3-4 in 2008. They went on to win four games in November and played in the Gator Bowl in December.
For the Tigers to qualify for a bowl, they will need to win at least three of their five games in November. The Tigers have never won all five games in the month of November, but they hope to start a winning streak with Saturday’s Homecoming game against Duke.
The Tigers have won 15 straight against the Blue Devils in Death Valley, and are 37-17-1 in the all-time series. The Tigers are 79-19-3 all-time in Homecoming games and haven’t lost on the special day since Miami beat them in 2010.
Duke won the last meeting between the two 23-7 in Durham in the opening game of the 2023 season. That broke a five game losing streak in the series.
Duke is also coming off an open date. The Blue Devils lost at home to Georgia Tech 27-18 their last time out. The Blue Devils are 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the ACC. They are led by their quarterback Darian Mensah. The Tulane transfer has thrown for 2211 yards and 17 touchdowns with two interceptions. He is completing 70% of his attempts.
Key comments from Dabo Swinney
- Been a good open date, proud of how his guys got back to work, it was a good week, some guys are in a better spot from an injury standpoint than they would have been had they had a game last Saturday.
- Duke has one of the best executing offenses in the country, the quarterback is elite, a special player, they execute at a high level, RPO worked into every play, takes deep shots, 5-6 per game.
- Duke plays well up front, good receivers and good backs, they’ve got to eliminate their big play busts and also be able to take the ball away.
- Duke is very aggressive on defense, lot of man coverage, lot of tight coverage, really good front, two really good ends, an All-American at corner in Rivers, well coached group.
- Have won two of their last three games and have to play complimentary football, did that in the wins but not last time out.
- Offensive line has been a mix and match deal with the injuries, but they have enough, hope to get good news on Thurmon this week, might get him back this season.
- Klubnik practiced on Monday and did everything he was asked to do by the coaches.
- Best case situations for Wesco and Sadler, Wesco injury was very scary, the Sunday after the game was tough with the family, but it’s turned out as a best case scenario. Sadler has a chance to play this Saturday.
- Wesco visited with the specialist in Pittsburgh who has worked on other Clemson players, best case scenario for him right now, they’ll be cautious with him in the spring and moving forward.
- In 2003 they lost to Wake Forest on a Thursday night and he thought they were going to be fired, they upset Florida State the next week and went on to win the Peach Bowl, so it’s never too late to be the best version of yourself.
- They are not going to win the league and they are not going to the playoffs, but they can win November and have a good time doing it, there’s a lot still out there and that’s what they have to focus on.