Swinney ready for once-in-81-years event in Death Valley

Dabo Swinney speaks to the media Tuesday.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Oct 18 12:42:59 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – A once-in-81-years event is happening Saturday in Clemson, and head coach Dabo Swinney is excited.

No. 5 Clemson hosts No. 14 Syracuse at noon (ABC) Saturday in Death Valley for Homecoming. The winner has the inside track to the ACC Atlantic Division title, and for the first time in the 81-season history of Memorial Stadium, Clemson will host a matchup of two undefeated teams with records of 6-0 or better.

“We've had 81 years in Death Valley and there hasn't been a matchup like this where both teams come in at least 6-0. These are two good football teams,” Swinney said during his Tuesday press conference. “Dino Babers has them going, man. He has an offense that can score, a scheme that creates challenges and they do a lot of different looks. They can divide you in half off the stretch. They play with tempo.

“It starts with their quarterback (Garrett Shrader). He's a great kid, a great young man, a tough competitor. We have a lot of respect for him. He's as tough as they come. He loves to run the ball and he punishes people when he runs. He's fast. He's 6'4, 230 pounds and he can flat out run. He's more and more confident. Their team has gotten better and better. They have a lot of belief. They're physical up front and have every starter back in the offensive line. They're scoring 36 points a game. They're dangerous and explosive. This No. 34 (running back Sean Tucker) is a true All-American. He is the best we have seen. He is a great player, their leading rusher and also their second-leading receiver. They always have a good group of receivers. They have playmakers. No. 19 has emerged as their go-to guy. Their offensive line is playing really good ball. You can tell they like it and have a great mentality.”

The Syracuse defense is undersized in spots, but Swinney says that doesn’t matter.

"Defensively, they're all over the place. They pressure, blitz about 50-percent of the time. Two out of every four plays they bring it,” he said. “They will challenge you. They have two great corners, no-doubt NFL guys. They're active at safety. They are a 3-man front with a star player roaming the middle. They're disruptive with their movement. We have to do a great job communicating, for sure. You don't get lucky and be undefeated at this point in the season."

Clemson had 24 missed tackles last week at FSU, and Swinney said the Tigers will have to do a better job this week.

"We had six TFLs we missed last year and three sacks we missed. We couldn't get him (Shrader) on the ground. He's a problem. He's a big, strong, man,” Swinney said. “You can load the box and play tight coverage but if 34 breaks through there, it is a huge play. You have to mix it up. You have to be very sound with your gaps and contain and leverage the football. They ran around us twice last year. We didn't set the edge. You have to do that regardless of where it's coming from. If they're outside of you, you have problems. They get you running, then they cut back on you, too. We have to clean that up, especially with how poorly we just played that last week in Tallahassee.

“We have to leverage the ball. We have to tackle better. We had 24 missed tackles. If you have 15 missed tackles, you win by two touchdowns. We have to trigger in the secondary better. They cut back on us. We did a great job on it in the second and third quarter and then had some lapses, which were disappointing. We have to execute the call better. Play the call better. Sometimes your guys try to do too much."

On Bryan Bresee

“He's 100-percent cleared. He's working his way back into full shape. He has missed a lot. He missed the La. Tech game, so much practice, the week of the Wake Forest game and he came back and played there some and then the next week he's out again. Now he's good and all of that is behind him. He's in normal practice weeks now. He's playing himself back into full shape. It won't take him long."

On the change in Myles Murphy

“We put him on the sideline and he didn't like it. He likes to run out there first. It's not like he was terrible. He had two or three loafs on tape. You can't have that. Just a little bit of accountability. He took ownership of it. He has responded as great players do."

On Xavier Thomas (in a walking boot after FSU)

"He was sore as you would expect. He's on track. He's healing as he goes. We have him on a plan. I think you'll see him get better and better as he goes."