Dabo Swinney details his initial thoughts on Tennessee

Tennessee and Clemson are set to battle for the second time since 1976, and the first time since the Tigers’ 2004 Peach Bowl victory over the Vols. Fast forward 18 seasons, and the two teams are now set to battle in the 2022 Capital One Orange Bowl as top-10 ranked opponents.

After finding out their bowl designation, both team’s head coaches took to Zoom for an initial Orange Bowl press conference Sunday afternoon, and Clemson headman Dabo Swinney had nothing but great things to say about Josh Heupel’s Vols.

“They’re unbelievable. I haven’t obviously got into really breaking them down, game planning, but I would imagine they got to lead the country in scoring or offense. I can’t imagine they don’t,” Swinney said during the joint Orange Bowl press conference. “As explosive of an offense as I’ve seen in a long, long time. Unbelievable tempo. Incredibly fast. Receivers making plays. This is a team that you can tell just has fun playing. You can tell that they’re very connected.”

Tennessee and Clemson share one common trait heading into bowl season – South Carolina is the reason neither team made the College Football Playoffs, defeating both the Vols and Tigers in consecutive weeks to end the regular season.

Swinney’s group came out swinging the following week in the ACC Championship game, defeating North Carolina 39-10. Even though Tennessee was off last weekend, the Vols were able to salvage their season – and a New Year’s Six bowl berth – with a win over Vanderbilt in the season finale.

“Coach Heupel and his staff, they’ve done an unbelievable job of building this culture and really putting it together right out of the gate. It’s not easy to do,” Swinney continued. “I know they missed some plays against South Carolina, and South Carolina hit some amazing plays. But, man, they bounced right back the very next week, got back on track, shut out Vanderbilt, scored a million points and a bunch of yards.”

Another similarity – neither team be starting their Week 1 quarterback. DJ Uiagalelei officially hit the transfer portal Monday, and UT’s Hendon Hooker tore his ACL against South Carolina. Cade Klubnik and Joe Milton III are expected to earn the start for their respective teams.

The Orange Bowl is set to kick off on Dec. 30 at 8 p.m. ET live from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on ESPN.