Tennessee in the Orange Bowl: A closer look at No. 7 Clemson

No. 6 Tennessee will face No. 7 Clemson in the Capital One Orange Bowl on December 30 in Miami. The New Years Six bowl game at Hard Rock Stadium will kickoff at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN.

Clemson (11-2, 8-0 ACC) is the ACC champion after beating North Carolina 39-10 on Saturday night.

Dabo Swinney made a change at quarterback, starting D.J. Uiagalelei before moving to Cade Klubnik. Uiagalelei was 2-for-5 passing for 10 yards, then Klubnik went 20-for-24 for 279 yards and a touchdown.

Uiagalelei this season has competed 62.1 percent of his passes, throwing for 2,521 yards, 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions and has rushed 142 times for 545 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.

Will Shipley leads Clemson on the ground with 1,110 yards and 15 touchdowns on 193 attempts. Antonio Williams is the leading receiver, catching 53 passes for 563 yards and four touchdowns. 

Four Clemson players have at least four touchdown catches. Tight end Davis Allen has caught 35 passes for 394 yards and five touchdowns. Wide receiver Beaux Collins has 22 catches for 373 yards and five touchdowns and tight end Jake Briningstool has 22 catches for 256 yards and four touchdowns.

Clemson is ranked 17th nationally in scoring defense, giving up 20.1 points per game. The Tigers are 10th against the run, allowing (101.08 yards per game), 77th against the pass (230.2 yards per game) and 24th in total defense (331.3 yards per game).

The season started with eight straight wins for Clemson, including one in double-overtime at Wake Forest on September 24. Notre Dame beat the Tigers 35-14 on November 6, jumping out to a 28-0 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Clemson bounced back with wins over Louisville and Miami before losing to rival South Carolina in the regular-season finale.

Vols lands in Orange Bowl after getting caught ‘flipping burgers’

After Tennessee’s 63-38 loss at South Carolina, which ended any hope the Vols had at a spot in the College Football Playoff, Swinney said Tennessee likely got caught looking ahead to which playoff game it would get sent to.

“They’re flipping burgers during the conference championship weekend,” Swinney said, “like are we going to Atlanta or Phoenix, and next thing you know you forget you gotta go play.”

Swinney was previewing Clemson’s game against South Carolina to close the regular season when he made the comments about Tennessee. 

“This is a game it doesn’t matter what your records are,” Swinney said at the time. “It doesn’t matter if you’re coming off three big wins in a row or three big losses in a row. This is a game that you just throw all of that stuff out.

“It’s all about this game, not what you’ve done throughout the year, not what you’ve done last year, or whatever. Or what’s coming after this. It’s really all about how you play in these four quarters.”

South Carolina then won 31-30 at Clemson, ending Clemson’s 40-game home winning streak.

Swinney clarified his comments last week.

“That’s just a classic example of people just hear what they want to hear,” Swinney said. “I actually was paying them a compliment. I was really more challenging our guys.”

“We were talking about finishing and how hard it is to win,” Swinney added. “I’m talking about our guys, you say, ‘OK. You’ve got a path that’s clear. But you have to finish.’ I just made the point the team we’re getting ready to play, this team, they’ve just got to do this and do that, then next week, they just can sit at home and flip burgers and watch all the championship games they’re in. But you’ve got to finish.”

Tennessee-Clemson: Series History 

The Orange Bowl will be just the 20th meeting between Tennessee and Clemson. The Vols hold an 11-6-2 advantage in the series, but lost the last meeting in 2003, when the Tigers won 27-14 in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.

The two teams have played just three times since 1974, after playing 16 times between 1901 and 1944. Tennessee won seven in a row, all in Knoxville, between 1920 and 1976. The series started with a tie in Knoxville in 1901, followed by two Clemson wins in 1902 and 1904. 

There was another tie at Clemson in 1905 and a Tennessee loss at Clemson in 1906. The Vols won three straight between 1907 and 1914 and Clemson won at Tennessee in 1915. The Vols won at Clemson in 1916 and lost at Clemson in 1919.