Tigers Know What's at Stake

Given the hullabaloo surrounding the College Football Playoff and the national championship game, players could easily get caught up in the magic of the moment, but head coach Dabo Swinney and Clemson's coaching staff are working to keep their players grounded and focused on the task at hand.

Given the hullabaloo surrounding the College Football Playoff and the national championship game, players could easily get caught up in the magic of the moment, but head coach Dabo Swinney and Clemson's coaching staff are working to keep their players grounded and focused on the task at hand.

In the lead-up to the big game, little about what the Tigers have accomplished thus far — a 29-game winning streak, a chance to win three out of the last four national titles and back-to-back championships — has escaped the players' notice.

"I mean, this is 2020," Swinney said. "I don't have to give them anything. They just get woken up in the middle of the night with breaking alerts. I mean, the information is overloaded into their world today. So I don't have to give them anything. They see it. They hear it. It's a constant. They know.

"Certainly we reinforce from time to time what their opportunity is, but it's not like we're giving them anything they don't know. They know. They're very well aware of what they've been able to achieve."

That said, Swinney did not diminish what his team has done the last five or more years to get to this historic moment.

"And listen, regardless of what happens in the game tomorrow night, it's really been a historic run," he said. "To win two out of the last three national championships is amazing. I'm just super proud of all of our teams that have worked so hard to just be the best they can be, and that's really our goal. That's it. Sometimes you get beat, and our goal is to be the best we can be every single year."

Swinney said he wants his players to be, not just focused on winning, but to enjoy the moment and to try to keep the other elements surrounding the game in the background.

"They're well aware of all the opportunity and all that stuff, but that's really not the focus," he said. "I think when you focus on that, you're focusing on the magnitude of the moment, and you lose the joy of the moment. That's all we try to focus on is just being great where our feet are and just have some fun doing what we do to get ready."