Swinney on the State of the Tigers: 'Ain't Nobody Okay'

The No. 3 Clemson Tigers have 14 days before they will line up and face off against the No. 1 LSU Tigers in the national championship in New Orleans on Jan. 13 (8 p.m., ESPN).

Following the Tigers' 29-23 come-from-behind win over No. 2 Ohio State it is a good thing they will have a few days to rest and recover, because Clemson is in need of a little break.

"There ain't nobody okay. Are you kidding me," Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. "We just came out of a 15-round bout. Coaches are sore. We're all sore. Everybody is beat up. That was an unbelievable game.

"But again, our guys finished. Everybody who got hurt came back. It was just unbelievable to watch.

"Everybody will be ready to go on the 13th, that's for sure, but today everybody—I hope everybody is still asleep. Like I said, long flight, getting back, and players are off today and tomorrow just to recover, and we'll get back with them on Wednesday."

While Swinney is hoping that his players are still sleeping and getting some much-needed rest, the coaching staff is busy getting ready for another huge test—the LSU Tigers.

"Long trip back, but we're excited about being in this next game and having an opportunity to compete against LSU," Swinney said. "I've had a chance to see them a few times this year, and they've just played flawless, really, all year long. Unbelievable what their quarterback has done, and just a complete football team in every sense of the word. Haven't watched a play of tape yet, but everybody—we got back late last night, so everybody has got a day today just to decompress, and then as coaches we'll get back at it tomorrow and start putting a great plan together to give our guys a chance to go compete.

"But excited about it, and again, just really proud of our team, and happy for our seniors that they get this opportunity."

LSU did not struggle at all in its semifinal as Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow led his offense to a dominant win, as the Tigers rolled the fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners by a final score of 63-28.

But Swinney believes the way his team rallied against the adversity it faced will prove beneficial to it in the national championship.

"In the end, we pride ourselves on trying to finish in the fourth quarter, and we had to go 94 yards against the best defense in the country to get the lead, and then we had to stop the No. 1 offense in the country to keep it," Swinney said. "And so I'm just proud of our guys for how they fought, how they handled adversity. You get down 16-0, and then to come back and score 29 to their seven, it's really all you need to know about who we are as a team, the leadership of the team, the character of the team and the fight."

Add us as a preferred source on Google