Taking one game at a time is the name of the game for Clemson coach Dabo Swinney.
With the College Football Playoff committee releasing the initial CFP rankings, a lot of speculation surrounded where Clemson would fall, given some teams may have a stronger strength of schedule at this point in the season.
Clemson (8-0, 6-0 ACC) came in at No. 4 in the first CFP rankings, but at this point in the season, this is not something that the players say is on many of their minds.
Junior cornerback Malcolm Greene spoke to the media on Monday ahead of the release of the CFP rankings, but he didn’t express much concern or interest in where the Tigers stack up against some fierce opposition.
The Virginia native reiterated much of what we heard from Swinney this week. Both Swinney and Greene emphasized focusing on the final goal of what the Tigers are trying to do as a team, and that happens one game at a time.
“No, I really don’t too much pay attention to the media and social media, but my teammates sometimes do and they sometimes talk about it, but I’m not too much on my phone,” he said. “My schedule is really busy and I don’t have too much time really to fit in too much of anything, but I sometimes see stuff on the TV. Like if I’m in the living room in the house and I get home, I get in there and I see that we’re No. 5 or something and I’m like that’s cool, but I know what we’re trying to do at the end of the day.”
It may be that the 5-foot-10, 195-pound cornerback has tunnel vision on what he needs to do each week, but it could also be his desire to focus on controlling what the Tigers can control, and that’s their approach to each game.
Even with an 8-0 record, the Tigers still have some tough competition for the remainder of the season and that starts this Saturday when Clemson faces off against Notre Dame.
