Dabo Swinney understands South Carolina's desire to win rivalry game

A few weeks ago, South Carolina looked to have a daunting end to the regular season. Facing off against both Clemson and Tennessee on back-to-back weeks could yield bad results. However, Shane Beamer got past the Vols and now has a chance to take down Dabo Swinney and the in-state rivals for the first time in nearly a decade.

Swinney was asked about the desperation on the South Carolina side to finally beat Clemson. As one who went on a losing streak of his own, the Tigers’ headman fully gets how the Gamecocks feel. However, he said nothing about the past matters in this type of game, wanting to throw out the record books.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“That’s why, every year, you put everything you got into it,” Swinney said. “Doesn’t matter what the records are, doesn’t matter if there is a streak. None of that matters. You got to play well in this game and you know you’re going to get their best. They’re going to get our best.

Even with the fierce competitiveness between the two, Swinney still respects the job Beamer has done in Columbia. He thinks South Carolina is playing with a ton of energy coming off the Tennessee win and will have self-belief.

“We’ve got great respect for them. I think Shane (Beamer) has done an amazing job, really has. You just see their team with a lot of energy, lot of belief. We got to play well. Doesn’t matter how many ever we won. That doesn’t matter. Got to play well and got to earn it this Saturday.”

Dabo Swinney looking to keep emotion out of South Carolina game

Emotions run high in rivalry games, especially in-state ones. Swinney is looking for the opposite, wanting his team to play good, fundamental football against the Gamecocks. He believes keeping composer and executing on Saturday is why Clemson ends up victorious.

“At the end of the day, it comes down to execution and doing what you go to do to win the football game,” said Swinney. “Blocking, tackling, throwing, catching, taking care of the football, being sound at special teams, executing in the red zone. I mean, there’s a lot that you got to do. Once the emotion gets out of the way, it’s all about football. So, you got to stay focused on those things in games like this and not get distracted by all the pomp and circumstance that comes along with it.

“At the end of the day, it’s a football game and most fired up team ain’t going to win. It’s the team who executes the best. It’s the team that does things to win football games — that does those things the best — that’s who wins.”