Hope everyone out there is doing well today. I usually don't focus much on Dabo Swinney's Tuesday press conference, mainly because Cris provides the run-down on that immediately after its conclusion.
But today's was interesting and even revealing for just how loose Swinney was -- and is -- no matter the magnitude of the game. This program has come a long way under his watch, and it could be argued that a part of it has been the attitude that games -- and in particular these mammoth games with all kinds of buildup -- should be fun.
For years under Tommy Bowden, and even some time under Swinney, it didn't always feel that way. There was just a greater element of tension that you could sense.
The last traces of that might have been present during the losing streak to South Carolina, as the Tigers seemed to tighten up and make uncharacteristic mistakes. But they chased that away with last year's annihilation of the Gamecocks, and now you have to think Swinney's decidedly loosey-goosey demeanor will help as his team prepares for Notre Dame.
A lot of young players on this team, so you really don't know how they're going to react until they're placed under the glare that they'll experience Saturday night. But if it's true that a coach's demeanor is a reflection of his team's demeanor, then they should be OK.
If I were Swinney, I'd consider making Friday night's team movie a replay of today's press conference. I mean the repeated questions about Notre Dame's greatness and tradition made it sound as if Clemson isn't on equal footing with the Irish. After last year's collapse, Notre Dame has as much and probably more that it needs to prove in this game.
A few more interesting things we've picked up this week:
-- We've said that we think Notre Dame would have a much better shot of winning this game if Malik Zaire were the quarterback. Not that the Irish can't win with DeShone Kizer, but Zaire's mobility gives Brian Kelly more flexibility based on what we saw of that offense in the first two games.
Jayron Kearse agrees with this assessment.
"With Zaire, you didn't just have to focus on the running back running the ball. It was zone-reads with the quarterback and things like that. But with this quarterback, he's much more of a passer. He's a pass-first, run-second guy, and their primary running guy is the running back.
"I definitely feel like they kind of altered their offense for this new quarterback."
-- Some of you have wondered why there wasn't a jet-sweep element to the offense at Louisville. By our recollection the Tigers ran one of them. We asked Tony Elliott about this and he indicated it's something they probably should've done more of.
"They play some 3-4 stuff, and then they did a really really good job of supporting the run with their safeties," Elliott said. "Any run scheme that you have, if the safety is going to be unaccounted for and when those guys can be up at the line of scrimmage quickly, it kind of took us out of it a little bit. But we probably should have gone back to it a little more in that game."
-- We asked Brent Venables for his appraisal of backup ends Richard Yeargin and Austin Bryant.
"Pretty generic: Some good, and some not so good. Lack of experience. They got a bunch of good reps the first couple of games. Austin probably exceeded expectations of where most true freshmen are, getting out there and executing and those types of things. But he has a lot to learn still. Same with Richard.
"Both of them have done well. But (Louisville) wasn't one of those games where you could get control of it like you'd like to, to afford those guys that opportunity. As coaches, we're scared of our own shadow sometimes as far as trusting young guys to go out there."
-- So Wayne Gallman comes rolling into today's press conference on a Segway, or a "Skywalker" as I've been informed they're called by today's younger generation.
This attracted quite a bit of attention, so I walked over. Gallman offers me a ride, and I'm doing fine until the edge of a rug gets in the way as I'm attempting a 360 (OK, maybe it was a 180).
Big spill, big laughs from everyone in attendance.
Wayne did catch me to prevent the fall from being really bad, but I'm still considering taking this thing to court.
My neck. My back. My neck and my back.
Here's Wayne speeding away from the scene of the crime:
But today's was interesting and even revealing for just how loose Swinney was -- and is -- no matter the magnitude of the game. This program has come a long way under his watch, and it could be argued that a part of it has been the attitude that games -- and in particular these mammoth games with all kinds of buildup -- should be fun.
For years under Tommy Bowden, and even some time under Swinney, it didn't always feel that way. There was just a greater element of tension that you could sense.
The last traces of that might have been present during the losing streak to South Carolina, as the Tigers seemed to tighten up and make uncharacteristic mistakes. But they chased that away with last year's annihilation of the Gamecocks, and now you have to think Swinney's decidedly loosey-goosey demeanor will help as his team prepares for Notre Dame.
A lot of young players on this team, so you really don't know how they're going to react until they're placed under the glare that they'll experience Saturday night. But if it's true that a coach's demeanor is a reflection of his team's demeanor, then they should be OK.
If I were Swinney, I'd consider making Friday night's team movie a replay of today's press conference. I mean the repeated questions about Notre Dame's greatness and tradition made it sound as if Clemson isn't on equal footing with the Irish. After last year's collapse, Notre Dame has as much and probably more that it needs to prove in this game.
A few more interesting things we've picked up this week:
-- We've said that we think Notre Dame would have a much better shot of winning this game if Malik Zaire were the quarterback. Not that the Irish can't win with DeShone Kizer, but Zaire's mobility gives Brian Kelly more flexibility based on what we saw of that offense in the first two games.
Jayron Kearse agrees with this assessment.
"With Zaire, you didn't just have to focus on the running back running the ball. It was zone-reads with the quarterback and things like that. But with this quarterback, he's much more of a passer. He's a pass-first, run-second guy, and their primary running guy is the running back.
"I definitely feel like they kind of altered their offense for this new quarterback."
-- Some of you have wondered why there wasn't a jet-sweep element to the offense at Louisville. By our recollection the Tigers ran one of them. We asked Tony Elliott about this and he indicated it's something they probably should've done more of.
"They play some 3-4 stuff, and then they did a really really good job of supporting the run with their safeties," Elliott said. "Any run scheme that you have, if the safety is going to be unaccounted for and when those guys can be up at the line of scrimmage quickly, it kind of took us out of it a little bit. But we probably should have gone back to it a little more in that game."
-- We asked Brent Venables for his appraisal of backup ends Richard Yeargin and Austin Bryant.
"Pretty generic: Some good, and some not so good. Lack of experience. They got a bunch of good reps the first couple of games. Austin probably exceeded expectations of where most true freshmen are, getting out there and executing and those types of things. But he has a lot to learn still. Same with Richard.
"Both of them have done well. But (Louisville) wasn't one of those games where you could get control of it like you'd like to, to afford those guys that opportunity. As coaches, we're scared of our own shadow sometimes as far as trusting young guys to go out there."
-- So Wayne Gallman comes rolling into today's press conference on a Segway, or a "Skywalker" as I've been informed they're called by today's younger generation.
This attracted quite a bit of attention, so I walked over. Gallman offers me a ride, and I'm doing fine until the edge of a rug gets in the way as I'm attempting a 360 (OK, maybe it was a 180).
Big spill, big laughs from everyone in attendance.
Wayne did catch me to prevent the fall from being really bad, but I'm still considering taking this thing to court.
My neck. My back. My neck and my back.
Here's Wayne speeding away from the scene of the crime:
