Swinney eager to get work after seeing 'challenging' Clemson schedule

Swinney is ready to get to work on 2022.

Brandon Rink · Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer · Tuesday, February 01 2022

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney looks forward to the ACC schedule release each year as the start to another phase of a new season.

He went on the ACC Network's Packer and Durham show to give his early thoughts on the 2022 campaign.

"It’s going to be a fun season. A challenging season. We’re excited about it," Swinney said. "It’s always fun when it comes out and you can kinda start mapping out what you’ve got to do to get your team ready."

“It’s really cool to start out in an incredible venue Labor Day night there in Atlanta playing Georgia Tech. That’s going to be a great opener for both teams and college football. Get to come home for a couple weeks and then we’ve got to play five-straight division games – and first of all, we have to play eight-straight before we have an open date…At Wake, who’s had a heck of a run under coach (Dave) Clawson. Obviously we got beat at NC State, they’ve got a lot of guys back. At BC, we haven’t been to BC in a while. Man, that’s always a tough place to play. My man (BC coach Jeff Hafley) has got those guys rolling. It’s going to be a challenging schedule.

"Back-to-back on the road going to Florida State, coming back at home versus Syracuse and then we will get an open date. September and October, we’ve got a lot of football to play…and we come back and November has three games at home to finish up there with Louisville, we know who they are and the quarterback they’ve got is special. Miami I think is going to be really good under coach (Mario) Cristobal. I think he’s going to do a great job there.

"And how about the job (Gamecocks coach Shane) Beamer did at South Carolina? Seven wins and going to a bowl game. I think he exceeded what a lot of people thought they would do. He’s done a great job, so you know that’s going to be a tough battle."

After reviewing the highlights of the 2022 slate, Swinney's thoughts quickly went back to the 2022 Tigers.

"We’re going to see some great quarterback play. There’s going to be some good football being played in this league for sure," Swinney said. "It’s going to be a challenge. But I really like our team coming back. First of all, we’ve got to get healthy. We’ve had a lot of surgeries around here. It’s exciting to know that we’re going to get back to full strength as a team and a roster – especially playing the bowl game without 30 scholarship guys. That’s just unheard of. I’ve never been a part of anything like that. So we’ve got a lot of guys coming back and through recruiting we’re addressing our needs.

"You’re always trying to bring talent in and build your depth and I think we’re going to be able to address both of those situations. Then put together a good football team – a team that’s going to be a little bit more experienced and a little deeper with some depth and a team that’s going to be eager to go out there and go play."

2022 Clemson football schedule

Sept. 5 (Monday) at Georgia Tech in Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Sept. 10 Furman
Sept. 17 Louisiana Tech
Sept. 24 at Wake Forest
Oct. 1 NC State
Oct. 8 at Boston College
Oct. 15 at Florida State
Oct. 22 Syracuse
Oct. 29 Bye week
Nov. 5 at Notre Dame
Nov. 12 Louisville
Nov. 19 Miami
Nov. 26 South Carolina