Dabo Swinney emphasizes not overlooking Syracuse

After a 7-0 overall start to the year, No. 5 Clemson is days away from their bye week. All that stands between them and a week of rest is a date with No. 14 Syracuse. With some time off on the horizon, though, Dabo Swinney wants to be assertive when reminding his roster that there’s still a game to play on Saturday.

Swinney talked about the upcoming bye week during media on Wednesday. He says they haven’t lost often heading into their schedule’s open date during his tenure at Clemson but that that fact doesn’t give them the right to overlook a ranked ACC opponent this weekend.

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“I don’t know how many games we’ve lost going into open date. Not many over 14 years,” said Swinney. “You just treat the weeks no different. Today’s a working man Wednesday and all the focus should be on what’s in front of you. Just no different than if you had another game next week. You’re not sitting here on Wednesday thinking about that game. Just continue to do what we do.”

Syracuse has earned the focus of the Tigers with an undefeated season of their own. The Orange are 6-0 overall and 3-0 in ACC as they head to Death Valley this weekend. QB Garrett Shrader and RB Sean Tucker are at the helm of a Top-30 offense while Syracuse’s defense has improved from 65th last season to 6th in 2022.

With Clemson in the driver’s seat in the ACC, this is a game that could give them a tight lead in the final year of the conference’s Atlantic division. That’s why Swinney is harping on focus and attention to detail as they bye week draws closer for his Tiger players.

“We don’t even talk about the open date. We just focus on the opponent that’s in front of us and just having a good day today. That’s really it.”