Sunday Notebook: Swinney the Politician, Taggart Fired and Venables Only Wants the Good

Head coach Dabo Swinney seemed more like a politician than a head coach, as he read off a list of the accomplishments of his 9-0 football team. The timing of his impressive list is no coincidence with the first College Football Playoff rankings set to be released this week.

CLEMSON —Head coach Dabo Swinney seemed more like a politician than a head coach, as he read off a list of the accomplishments of his 9-0 football team. The timing of his impressive list is no coincidence with the first College Football Playoff rankings set to be released this week.

"I’m super proud of our offense. That’s back-to-back games with no turnovers. We picked up 702 yards," Swinney said. "That’s also back-to-back games with over 600 yards of offense. This program has never scored 45 or more points four games in a row before today, too, so a lot of amazing things happened. It’s pretty remarkable what this group has done, especially when you talk about rushing the ball and spreading the ball around.

“Defensively, we also made some history. That’s nine games in a row of holding opponents to less than 300 yards. And that’s happened only twice in 20 years, and that’s incredible to do in today’s world of college football. I’m really proud of how consistent our defense has been all year long.”

Swinney on Taggart firing: Swinney believes that the firing of Florida State head coach Willie Taggart is a "shame", but is part of the profession.

"I hate it. I think Willie is a heck of a guy and heck of a coach," Swinney said. "For whatever reason, it just didn't work out. This time of year, you start to see some of that stuff. Wish Willie all the best and certainly have a lot of respect for him."

"FSU is a great program and certainly this is a tough time for them but no doubt they will be a great program again at some point."

Tell me something good:

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables did not want to hear any of the comments about his squad giving up 14 points to the Wofford Terriers. Instead, he only wanted to focus on the positives.

"Tell me all the good stuff, let's talk about all the good stuff," Venables said. "I'm not even going there. You know what I mean? Let's talk about the good stuff. We came out first half totally dominant. Squeezed the life out of them. That's as good of a performance that we've had in a first half that I've seen. Really proud of the discipline they displayed really for four quarters tonight. 1, 2, 3, 4-deep, all of them." 

Tigers open as huge favorites at NC State:

The Tigers open as 32-point favorites over the NC State Wolfpack. The Tigers and the Wolfpack will face off in primetime (7:30 p.m., ABC) at Carter-Finley Stadium.

Tigers in the polls: The Tigers remain to No. 3 in the coaches poll and No. 4 in the AP Poll. The first College Football Playoff ranking is set to be released at 9 p.m., Tuesday night on ESPN.