Clemson HC Dabo Swinney Explains Short Week Plans, "Complete" Louisville Matchup

It’s not often that head coach Dabo Swinney and his Clemson Tigers play on a Friday night. Clemson has only played three games in his tenure on that day of the week, the first time in four years.

After Clemson was able to get past the Florida State Seminoles at home this past weekend, Swinney acknowledged that there would be a celebration that night, especially being an in-conference rival, but there was immediate focus on the Louisville Cardinals shortly after.

Swinney said that there was a meeting at 4 p.m. last Sunday after the win, shifting focus to the matchup against a Louisville team that is looking to get to the ACC Championship for the second time in three seasons under head coach Jeff Brohm.

“I know it’s Tuesday in the real world, but it’s Wednesday for the Tigers,” Swinney said on Tuesday. “It’s been a blur, obviously a late night Saturday night, and then just a quick turnaround on Sunday.”

Although the Clemson head coach said that the team did a lot of things well in the game, playing complementary football effectively in the win, there are still fixes that need to be made. The team is looking for revenge from last season, when the Cardinals entered Memorial Stadium and beat the Tigers up in a 33-21 victory.

Now, Swinney wants that win back, looking to thwart Louisville’s hopes of getting back to the championship game. The Cardinals were unable to pull out a home win last weekend, losing to California in overtime to drop to 7-2.

“Again, proud of our team and how they competed last week,” he said. “We did a lot of good things in all three phases, but still some things that we need to improve and quickly this week, I know they’ll try to take advantage of if we don’t correct some of the things, especially defensively with a couple of our mistakes from aeye discipline standpoint, because these guys again they challenge you a lot with their formations and bunch sets and all that type of stuff.”

Not only is an extra day off of the schedule for Clemson, but Thursday will be a travel day for the team. Therefore, the team has an even shorter week than what the matchup may presume.

However, Swinney is confident that everybody will be ready to play on a shorter week’s notice, especially with the momentum of the win over Florida State the week before.

“You lose a day of prep, but I think everybody’s really handled it well, staff and players, and, you know, getting done what we got to get done, and you’re going on the road,” he said, “so it kind of shortens your week even more, but we’re excited about it.”

Clemson is 8-1 against the Cardinals all-time, with the one loss being last year at home. Once again, Louisville is a strong team this season, aided by one of the best defenses in the country. The Tigers’ opponent is 14th in the country in yards allowed per game (296.8), being second in the ACC.

Swinney calls the Cardinals a “complete team”, adding that playing away from home is never easy.

“I mean, again, just a good football team, you know, every facet, and then over on the defensive side, they’re one of the best defenses in the country,” he said. “Very aggressive, physical up front, you know, they’re a scheme that’s going to challenge you from an aggressiveness standpoint.

Despite the short week, Swinney says that he will focus on the ability to “execute with precision”, looking to get one step closer to bowl game eligibility with a win.

“So, we’ll head out again, today’s a Wednesday practice for us, so we’ll head out on Thursday in the real world,” he said. “So, coming quick, and should be a great night.”

Kick off is set for 7:30 p.m. from L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.