The Tigers Have Landed

PHOENIX — The No. 3 Clemson Tigers have officially arrived in Phoenix, to begin their on-site preparations for the Fiesta Bowl, the semifinal game of the College Football Playoff, against the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes.

"We're just happy to be here, just blessed to have the type of season that we had," head coach Dabo Swinney said. "Obviously, you got to get picked to be here. Everybody is saying, 'Thank you for being here.' I'm like, 'Shoot, thank you for having us because you got to get picked to come here. We didn't really get a choice.' We're just thankful to be out here in Arizona.

"Looking forward to a great week and an incredible matchup with an awesome team in Ohio State. So should be exciting for everybody."

After Swinney's announcement last season that three players had been suspended for a year after testing positive for a banned substance, Swinney was happy to announce that his entire team made the cross-country trip. "Everybody is here," he said with a smile. "Everybody's here."

The Tigers have been sent out to Arizona, either for the national championship or a College Football Playoff semifinal, in three of the five years they've been selected as participants.

While there is a sense of familiarity with traveling, preparing and playing in a venue for the third time, Swinney said this is still a new team. Clemson's senior class is its only group that was also here the last time the Tigers were here, for the 2016 Fiesta Bowl.

"I think that certainly experience is a great teacher, but it's a new team," Swinney said. "Like I said, I've got very few that have been out here. We don't have a big senior class."

The 2016 Fiesta Bowl was a situation similar to this year's game. The only difference in that game and the one that will be played Saturday night, Clemson was the No. 2 team in the country, the Buckeyes ranked third. The Tigers shut out Ohio State, 31-0, and advanced to the College Football Playoff title game, which they won, 35-31, over No. 1 Alabama.

Still, even though most of this year's team has not played in the Fiesta Bowl before, there are plenty of Clemson players with big-game experience.

"We really treat every game as a big game," Swinney said. "This is a little different in that obviously you're away and it's a bowl site and different logistics and things like that. So our experience hopefully will help us just kind of navigate that. But at the end of the day, man, we got a routine that we believe in and we'll stick to it.

"At the same time, also, enjoy the week and participating in all the things that are available to us."

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