Swinney on Stopping the 'high-powered' Tennessee Offense

Clemson understands the task of slowing down the high-powered Tennessee offense is going to require them to be "unrealistic" in practice.

Zach Lentz | Dec 26, 2022

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Dania Beach, Fl.—The Clemson Tigers may have found a spark for their sputtering offense in their 39-10 win over North Carolina in the ACC Championship in true freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik--who is now the starting quarterback after head coach Dabo Swinney's announcement following the game, and the subsequent departure of former starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei to Oregon State.

But even with that spark, Swinney still understands that the task of stopping one of the best offenses in college football is going to be one of their most challenging of the season when they take on the Tennessee Volunteers in the Capital One Orange Bowl on December 30.

"Yeah, (they lead the nation in) total offense, scoring offense, a third and passing offense. So it's hard to prepare for that," Swinney said. "They're ranked all those things because nobody's had a lot of success stopping them. So for us, we've tried to practice with a great tempo, two huddles. We've tried to make it as unrealistic in practice as we can to try to create the mindset for our guys because they do play at a lightning fast tempo, so you got to be ready.

"And so that's really the best that we can do. And then just making sure that we really understand who they are, philosophy wise, what they like to do, and because in a game like this, you're not really going to change who you are. You've got to be good at what you do."

Clemson is a 5.5-point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

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