Clemson and Florida State are longtime ACC Atlantic Division foes who’ve seen their rivalry rev up in recent years. Yet Clemson coach Dabo Swinney doesn’t have many guys on his roster who’ve played at Doak Campbell Stadium.
“It’s kind of weird. Just like the BC game,” Swinney said in reference to the Tigers’ trip to Boston College last week. “We only had a couple of guys that had been there as well.”
With that in mind, Swinney said his team is pumping up the artificial crowd noise during practice this week as the Tigers prepare for what will undoubtedly be the most hostile environment they’ve played in so far this season. According to Vegas Insider, Clemson (6-0, 4-0 ACC) enters this weekend’s matchup with FSU (4-2, 1-2) as just a 3.5-point favorite at Doak Campbell Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 79,560.
Compare that to Clemson’s previous road trips – Wake Forest (32,903 in attendance) and Boston College (42,138) – and there really is no comparison. Even the Tigers’ season-opening win over Georgia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta came in front of just 47,712 fans, most of which were cheering for the Tigers.
Clemson has a number of players who will be experiencing this kind of atmosphere away from home for the first time, including a handful of freshman contributors such as offensive lineman Blake Miller and receiver Antonio Williams. It will happen under the lights as part of a third straight primetime kickoff for the Tigers where the largest road crowd they will have played in front of to this point will have all day to marinate before a 7:30 p.m. start.
Add all those factors up, and Swinney said it’s important to go above and beyond in trying to simulate the noise that his team will have to deal with when trying to execute its assignments come Saturday night.
“That’s the best thing you can do is try to make it as unrealistic in practice as you can so that when they get there, they’re not overwhelmed by that,” Swinney said. “It will be loud and all of that. It will be a great environment. Just try to prepare them for the type of focus that they have to have to execute what they need to do.
“They’ve got good players, so make sure you get enough good-on-good type of work during the week so that they’re ready and they’re sharp.”
This will be Clemson’s first trip to FSU since notching a 58-10 win over the Seminoles in 2018. The teams were initially scheduled to play at Doak Campbell Stadium again during the 2020 season before that game was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
FSU has hired a new coach since then in Mike Norvell, who has a team bringing a top-30 offense and defense nationally into this matchup. For the first time in his tenure, the Seminoles will also have advantage of a home crowd against Clemson.
Swinney said his team, which has won five consecutive true road games dating back to last season, is embracing the challenge.
“I think anytime you’re in competition and you have an opportunity to go play in a great environment, that’s fun,” Swinney said. “You love a challenge like that.”
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