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Dabo Swinney: Clemson’s ‘got some similarities’ with Auburn
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Clemson and Auburn are two teams with big expectations that will square off Saturday evening.
Clemson is the defending national champion and is ranked No. 3 on the AP Poll. Auburn is currently ranked No. 13 but believes it has an opportunity to do something special in 2017.
The two teams will meet at Clemson Saturday on ESPN with kickoff set for 7PM.
Clemson’s head coach Dabo Swinney had his weekly press conference Tuesday, and he sees similarities between the two teams of Tigers.
“We’ve got some similarities. We both want to run the football at the core,” said Swinney. “We want to run the ball. We’ve probably thrown the ball a little more over the years than they have, but at the end of the day, we both want to attack the perimeter, we want to attack downfield and we want to have a physical run game from a spread-type set.”
Both teams are featuring a new starting QB in 2017, and Swinney recognized that Stidham looks ready to make an impact for Auburn.
“(Auburn) is a really good football team, a complete football team. Looking at them last year at this time, they were trying to figure out what they were going to do at quarterback,” explained Swinney. “This year, they’ve got a bunch of guys back who have a lot of experience…They’re a really, really good football team. And now, they’ve got a quarterback that’s got a lot of confidence, experience and poise, and he understands what they’re doing.”
Stidham completed 14 of 24 passes for 185 yards, 2 TDs, and an interception. He also added 17 yards and another TD on the ground.
Clemson’s new starting QB is Kelly Bryant after the departure of Deshaun Watson to the NFL, but Bryant looked comfortable in the season opener. Bryant completed 16 of 22 passes for 236 yards, a TD, and an interception while rushing for 77 yards and another TD in the first game of the season.
Saturday night’s game should be a good one, and both QB’s will be key in the outcome.
You can see Swinney’s full comments here.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
