Dabo Swinney isn’t used to having to wait this long to get started coaching his team.
Clemson will be part of the final game of the first full weekend of the college football season when the Tigers face Georgia Tech on Labor Day night inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. It’s the first time since 2019 that Clemson won’t open the season on a Saturday and the first time in Swinney’s 14-year tenure as head coach that the Tigers are starting up on a Monday.
Swinney already has an idea of how he’s going to pass the time this weekend. He said he’ll be watching what’s happening in Norman, Oklahoma and Charlottesville, Virginia. That’s where his former assistants, Brent Venables and Tony Elliott, will be making their head coaching debuts with the Sooners and Cavaliers, respectively.
“I can’t wait to see them,” Swinney said Thursday. “It’s Tuesday for us, but it’s Thursday for them. So I’m sure they’re both kind of getting a little jacked up. I’ll probably shoot them a little text and reach out to them. But I can’t wait. It’ll be fun.”
As for Swinney’s program, Clemson will be playing its first Monday opener since a Labor Day victory over Florida State in 2007. But Swinney is hoping it’s not the last time the Tigers play on a Monday this season.
“We’re opening on Monday night football, and hopefully we’re going to finish on Monday night football,” Swinney said. “That would be awesome.”
If that happens, that would mean Clemson is playing in the College Football Playoff championship game, which is scheduled for Jan. 9 in Los Angeles. Last season, the Tigers missed out on the playoff for the first time since 2015 and didn’t reach the ACC championship game for the first time since that same 2014 season.
Yet Clemson still won 10 games a season ago, reeling off six straight wins down the stretch after a 4-3 start. The Tigers have more than half their starters back on both sides of the ball, which means Clemson has a roster full of players that Swinney believes has a newfound respect for winning.
“For this group especially, I just think they have a respect for what it takes,” Swinney said. “We went to six straight playoffs and six straight (ACC) championship games. And I know we didn’t go to seven and didn’t win seven and the world has come to an end, but I think these guys have a perspective that no team I’ve had in a long time has.
“They know what it’s like to be 4-3 at Clemson. They know what it’s like, and that ain’t real good. So I think that’s a good, healthy perspective for them.”
That’s why Swinney doesn’t expect his team to take anything for granted when Clemson faces its first hurdle in its quest to return to the CFP, even if it’s coming 48 hours later than usual.
“(Georgia Tech) will be as excited as we are,” he said. “Both of us are undefeated, and one of us is going to come out with a loss. Being excited don’t get it done. We’ve got to go execute and earn it on the field.”
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