Dabo Swinney expects Doak Campbell to be rocking Saturday night

Swinney said he expects a great environment at Doak Campbell Stadium.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Oct 11 12:57:50 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – Clemson and Florida State is one of the best rivalries in the ACC, but head coach Dabo Swinney says that while the fans and media don’t want to hear it, the Tigers can’t make any one game bigger than the other because the program is at a point where everyone makes Clemson a priority.

Clemson and Florida State renew acquaintances this Saturday at 7:30 pm (ABC) in a key division matchup. Florida State holds a 20-14 advantage in the series with Clemson dating to the schools’ first meeting in 1970, a 38-13 Florida State win in Tallahassee. Clemson has a 12-6 advantage over the last 18 games, including a six-game active winning streak. The home team has won 15 of the last 19 games in the series. Since 2003, Clemson has won at Florida State three times: in 2006, 2016 and 2018. Florida State’s only win at Clemson since 2001 was in 2013. The last three road wins in the series (Florida State in 2013, Clemson in 2016 and 2018) all preceded National Championship victories that year.

Swinney was asked about some of Clemson’s biggest rivals within the conference, and his answer dealt more with the status of the Clemson program.

"Whomever we're playing that week. I know you don't want that answer,” Swinney said during his Tuesday press conference. “We're at a point where everyone circles us. Everyone practices for us year-round. That's where we are as a program. I'm not trying to boast, but our success brings that. It comes with it. You have to embrace that target. Everyone we play is the biggest game. If you look at it from a fan standpoint, Clemson - Florida State ... we've been in the division together. They've been in the league for 30 years. Think about how many times they have won this league and even over the last 14 years. This game many times has decided who wins the league, so it's huge. So many great moments and a lot of cycles in this series, The Bowden Bowl, everything.

“There has been a lot of history with Clemson and Georgia Tech. I know from a fan standpoint, there has always been a lot there. Clemson - NC State, the Textile Bowl ... they hand you a trophy when that game is over. Boston College - they give you a trophy if you win it. I just look at everybody with respect and I think everybody is a rival, but I know it's different for our fans. From a conference standpoint, I would say NC State, Florida State and Georgia Tech."

Swinney said he expects a great environment at Doak Campbell Stadium.

"Oh it'll be a great environment. It'll be rocking, especially when it's Clemson and Florida State," Swinney said. "It'll be a tough matchup, a tough place to play. I have had an opportunity to see them throughout the year just on crossover stuff. They played BC at home, so we saw that film. Mike has done a great job. They have recruited and they have got some guys who have given them some immediate help. Their quarterback is special, dynamic and they've got three transfers on the offensive line, transfers on defense.

"This is a very, very good football team. Incredibly competitive. They've had two tough losses to two good teams and had chances to win both of those games. They can beat anybody on any given day. We'll have to play much better as a team than we did this past week to have a chance."

The Tigers will be healthier this week than in recent weeks – Swinney was asked if defensive tackle Bryan Bresee will be back.

"Yep. He's back this week. I don't think we get worse with Bryan back,” Swinney said. “We got Xavier Thomas a going and we're trying to build his role. We've gotten better. We're playing better these last couple of weeks. We've played our best the last couple of weeks defensively. We've cleaned some things up on the back end. I think it's a reflection of how we have practiced. Sometimes you lose before guys grow up. We've had to play a lot of guys. I think that will serve us well at some point, but it's nice to get some experienced guys back.”

Thomas played six snaps last week, and Swinney expects that workload to increase this week.

“We want to increase his workload each week at practice. He has been around awhile and understands things,” Swinney said. “He knows what he can and can't do. The doctors feel really good about him. He looked pretty good the other night. We're trying to be cautious with him. I think he'll play more than six plays this week."

It's still unknown if cornerback Sheridan Jones will play.

“He's still day to day. Hopefully today and tomorrow we'll know more,” Swinney said. “We thought he was going to play last week. Literally on Friday we found out he couldn't go. We are hopeful that he will have a good week."