What Dabo Swinney said about preparing for Tennessee Vols' up-tempo offense
The Clemson Tigers arrived in Miami on Christmas Eve for their upcoming Orange Bowl showdown with the Tennessee Vols. Upon arriving in Miami, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney spoke about the game and how his team has been preparing for Tennessee's up-tempo offense that's ranked No. 1 in the nation. "Total offense, scoring offense, [they […]
The Clemson Tigers arrived in Miami on Christmas Eve for their upcoming Orange Bowl showdown with the Tennessee Vols.
Upon arriving in Miami, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney spoke about the game and how his team has been preparing for Tennessee's up-tempo offense that's ranked No. 1 in the nation.
"Total offense, scoring offense, [they 're] third in passing offense, it's hard to prepare for that," said Swinney. "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," added Swinney. "You know, 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 lightening fast tempo."
"So you have to be ready. That's really the best that we can do. And then just making sure we really understand who they are philosophy-wise. What they like to do, because in a game like this you're not really going to change who you are — you have to be good at what you do."
Tennessee will be without several of their top offensive players against Clemson — QB Hendon Hooker (injury), WR Cedric Tillman (injury/opt-out), and WR Jalin Hyatt (opt-out) won't play against the Tigers — but the Vols' offense is still expected to operate at the same up-tempo pace that we saw all season.
It's hard to know what to expect in bowl games due to opt-outs and the long layoff, but there's no doubt that Tennessee will have their work cut out for them against Clemson's No. 19 ranked scoring defense.
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