Moderator: Thank you very much. Welcome, everybody. We are extremely excited here at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl to announce and introduce the coaches for the 49th annual game, which is a College Football Playoff Semifinal this year. Ohio State is making its ninth appearance here at the Fiesta Bowl, and Clemson, who was here a few years ago and won here en route to the national championship.
So congratulations to Coach Ryan Day and Dabo Swinney. For those of you who missed it earlier, the game time has been confirmed. It is 6:00 p.m. Mountain Time local, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. It will be the second game of the double-header on Saturday,
December 28th.
Once again, thank you for everybody joining us here today. With that, Coach Day, welcome. Welcome in your first season to the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl.
COACH DAY: Thank you very much. And first off, I just want to say what an honor it is for us to be going to the Fiesta Bowl, one of the most prestigious bowls in the entire country, and its reputation precedes itself. And we are really excited about getting to Arizona. I just want to say congratulations to Coach Swinney and Clemson for an unbelievable season. And I have the utmost — and we have the utmost respect for what they’ve done, not only winning national championships, but then continuing that excellence.
It’s very hard when you are the top dog, and everyone is giving you the best shot to continue to do what they’ve done. So nothing but, again, utmost respect for those guys and looking forward to a big challenge. Not only are they talented, but they’re very well-coached.
Our team is excited about this challenge. We are excited to have an opportunity to play in the playoffs, and been working hard towards this goal. I thought we finished the season strong, especially the last three games. And we are looking forward to preparing for this game, getting out to Arizona.
Moderator: Thank you, Ryan.
Coach Swinney, go ahead with your opening remarks, please.
COACH SWINNEY: I would say a lot of the same. Just super excited to come back out to Arizona. It’s a wonderful experience out there at the Fiesta Bowl. They just do a great job. And obviously it’s a huge game for both teams, but it’s still been a great bowl-type experience out there in Arizona.
And again, looking forward to coming out. And congratulations to Coach Day and the Buckeyes. They’ve been unbelievable. Just one of the most dominant teams every week all year long. And that’s an unbelievable accomplishment. Talented on both sides of the ball. Just two great programs that I know that will have great will to win, and it’s going to be an awesome environment and a great game. No doubt about it.
It’s a blessing to be a part of it. We’re thankful. And just really looking forward to the whole experience out there. So appreciate everyone being on today. With that, we’ll take whatever questions you have.
Moderator: Thank you, Coaches. Just a couple of quick notes here. Clemson has a 28-game winning streak, which is the longest winning active streak in FBS; followed by Ohio State, who has won 19 in a row dating back to last year. So the top two winning streaks will go head to head here. This is only the second game of the 2019 season that will feature two of the top three ranked teams facing each other. The other one was LSU and Alabama on November 9th.