Tigers Back at Work Early on Sunday, Preparing for Georgia Tech

Quarterback Kyle Parker was named offensive player of the game against Middle Tennessee.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Sep 06 22:11:13 GMT-04:00 2009

News and notes from Dabo Swinney’s press conference with the media Sunday evening.

*Players of the Game from Saturday were quarterback Kyle Parker for the offense and linebacker Brandon Maye for the defense.

*The Tigers practiced at 7 p.m. on Sunday evening and will travel to Atlanta on Wednesday for the Thursday night contest against Georgia Tech. Swinney said the Tigers will eat supper at Clemson on Wednesday then leave campus around 6:15 for the bus ride to Atlanta.

*Clemson running back C.J. Spiller missed the second half of the Middle Tennessee game after sustaining a leg injury on a second quarter punt return. He also had a problem earlier in the game after he hyperventilated following his season-opening kickoff return that went 96 yards for a touchdown. However, Swinney said that Spiller is fine and will be ready to play against Georgia Tech. “I was laughing with him earlier,” Swinney said. “I told him that he only played about 10 or 11 snaps and had 170 yards, and I asked him if he was going to be able to keep his breath Thursday night. We had a good laugh about that over dinner tonight.”

*The Tigers head into the Georgia Tech game with a healthy football team. Swinney said that linebacker Daniel Andrews is the only one that will be watched closely in practice, but should be ready for the Tech game.

*Swinney said that the Tigers have already had a lot of preparation for Georgia Tech’s option offense. “We looked at them quite a bit in the spring,” Swinney said. “Those are things that [defensive coordinator Kevin Steele] Kevin and I have talked about. When you are talking about your opponents and talking about your installs and plans, you prepare and practice as much as you can early. If you have an opponent that is very unique, like Georgia Tech, it only makes sense to prepare a little bit. We did a little bit in the spring, and we did as a coaching staff in the summer, and hopefully that will be a benefit as went into it with the players this week.”

*Swinney welcomed the media to the call by saying, “Welcome to Tuesday,” a reference to the team’s short week in preparing for Georgia Tech and their offense. He said the coaching staff has had to move all of their preparations up, and the entire staff was in the office by 7 a.m. on Sunday preparing for Tech and the difference their offense brings to the table versus what the Tigers saw against Middle Tennessee. “They have a totally different style,” Swinney said. “You could throw a grenade and kill everybody in this ballgame, because everybody is going to be right there together, as opposed to last night’s game, when everybody was spread out all over the place. Just different styles from a defensive standpoint. This is great opportunity for us to go on the road and play a very good team like Georgia Tech. Hopefully we can find out a little bit more about ourselves.”

*Swinney said that after looking at the Middle Tennessee game film, he was still proud of the Tigers’ effort. “We felt good about what we saw on film,” Swinney said. “The mistakes are very correctable, and the overall effort was very good. There are some things we can definitely learn from after watching film.”

*Swinney said that one of the things a coach worries about in an opener is sloppy play, but was proud of the fact that the Tigers had only four penalties [for 40 yards] and that everything went smoothly from an operational standpoint.