Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney talks about his team's matchup vs. FSU

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney held his weekly press conference to address his team's matchup with Florida State. He also spoke about the Seminoles on offense and what he has seen from quarterback Brock Glenn from his film study.

Swinney also spoke about how impressed he was with FSU's defensive front and why he thinks the Seminoles struggled against the run this year. And he talks about FSU's 1-4 start coming off a 13-1 season in 2023.

Dabo Swinney's opening remarks on facing Florida State this week:

"Exciting to move into October, we had a good month here at home and that's great for us, but you got to go you got to go take it on the road. I tell them all time, good teams win at home, great teams win on the road. You got to be able to travel with your plan to win and execute when they're not all cheering for you. We certainly will have that opportunity this week and you know Florida State is always a really tough place to play. Their fans do a great job, there's always a a ton of energy down there. Certainly, it's Clemson-Florida State, well-documented history. With this matchup it doesn't matter what the records are. I know everybody — it doesn't matter to us, there's good players on both sides. Florida State's got, they got a bunch of guys who will be playing on Sunday, a bunch of them and we've got to make sure that we do what we need to do to keep improving our team."

Dabo Swinney on FSU's offense (prior to the announcement Brock Glenn would start:

"They've got some questions at quarterback on who's going to play, but regardless of who plays, they're a challenging scheme in what they do. I think they do a lot of things to challenge you as far as their run design. Whether it's the stretch platy, the counter, all the play actions, the boots, there are a million ways that they screen you, so that's just how they're very aggressive that way, that's how they're built. Again, good players across the board. We've got to be ready regardless of who runs out there."

Dabo Swinney on FSU's defense:

"Defensively, the same thing. Those two D-tackles, all them guys up front are playing on Sunday, every single one of them. They're a great-looking football team when you turn on the tape and you look at the personnel that they have. Big challenge for us and again our focus is just trying to keep improving, try to develop our team now on the road because if we want to have a great season, we've got to be able to play well on the road in some adverse conditions and overcome some adversity within the game. And so that'll be our objective, to try and find a way to win the game and get off to a good start here in October."

Dabo Swinney on Florida State's defenses struggle to stop the run this season:

"What the film shows is guys that have been in position and maybe hadn't made the play or they've had some guys that just did not had their eyes on the play. Or they've had some guys that just did not have their eyes on the right things, missed fits on some stuff and some teams that have been able to win up front and their backs have broken tackles. There's been some missed tackles. The same things that have created some big plays against us along the way. There's been some explosives in the run game that have really skewed some stuff for them but, again, when you look at that tape and you go, 'Stanford (who is good at stopping the run) didn't look like that.' Stanford, I mean they played hard, and they've got some good players, but they didn't look like Florida State. Them guys they run out there, you just go, 'Wow, No. 5 (Josh Farmer) and No. 6 (Darrell Jackson) and the same thing with 11 (Pat Payton) and 7 (Marvin Jones Jr.) on the edge, those guys, they're elite, talented guys. So, again, I'm not trying to evaluate Florida State, I'll let Coach Norvell worry about that. I just know they've got good dudes up there that are hard to block, and we've got to play at a high level."

Dabo Swinney on FSU's special teams:

"They've got a great kicker, a great punter. They've got weapons everywhere. I think they are both No. 1 in the nation. Punt returner is averaging about 18 yards. They've got weapons everywhere."

Dabo Swinney on FSU QB Brock Glenn:

"You haven't seen much. Obviously, he played the last part of the SMU game and then you got a chance to see him the whole game against Louisville, watching the ACC Championship game just to get a feel for that. They have some wildcat as well, has some success with No. 9 (Lawrance Toafili) in that ACC Championship game. So I would expect probably some of that as well if they're down a quarterback, so we'll see. But he's a good player, he makes throws. He made some nice plays in that championship game but not a lot of tape, very limited."

Dabo Swinney on FSU's 1-4 start to the 2024 season after a 13-1 season last year:

"Football is hard, it's a hard game and it really is. And, honestly, y'all heard me talk about it a lot, a few plays here or there can really affect the psyche of a team, the confidence of a team. And a couple plays go your way and next thing you know it's different. These kids today, growing up with a lot of noise, a lot of pressure, more than at any time ever in football history when it comes to scrutiny and expectations and criticism and just negativity, just straight-up negativity and that's hard, that's hard that they have to deal with that and can affect teams. And certainly, injuries and things like that and all of the sudden now you can lose your confidence or whatever. But when I look at a couple of these games, they're right there and so you just have to keep playing. And if you do this long enough, you're going to have a year along the way where crazy things happen, but you've just got to play the next game, you've got to keep going. Everybody's surprised of where their record is. But you also got to give the other team credit. They've played some good teams. Let's just don't attack Florida State, how about let's give some praise to other teams."