Dabo Swinney preaches positivity as Clemson plays in Orange Bowl and not CFP

There are 365 days in a calendar year. If everything goes perfectly for a college football program, they’ll be suiting up on 15 of those days. Consider that a grade of an A-plus.

Dabo Swinney still sees the value in a A-minus.

Speaking ahead of Friday’s Orange Bowl, the longtime Clemson coach delivered a message of overwhelming positivity as his No. 7 Tigers face No. 6 Tennessee in a primetime matchup of one-time College Football Playoff contenders.

Sure, last month’s one-point home loss to rival South Carolina still stings. Same for a blowout loss Nov. 5 at Notre Dame that put the program in the unenviable position of having to win out and get some dominoes around them to fall in the right direction.

But the Orange Bowl is still the Orange Bowl, Swinney said: an opportunity for reigning ACC champion Clemson to finish strong, get a glimpse of the future and suit up for a 14th time — not quite the 15 that would come with a national championship, but 93% of the way there.

“It’s an opportunity to finish your season,” Swinney said Thursday in a joint news conference with Tennessee’s Josh Heupel. “It’s an opportunity to get an unbelievable experience.”

Clemson (11-2) isn’t exactly back on top of the college football universe, that coveted space the program reached with four national championship appearances and two national title wins from 2015 to 2019, but the Tigers are back in the vicinity.

Swinney said he isn’t taking that for granted after a 2021 season in which Clemson started 4-3, missed its first ACC championship game since 2014 and was relegated to the Cheez-It Bowl.

This year’s team is now back atop a conference it has dominated for years, with true freshman Cade Klubnik situated as Clemson’s quarterback of the future, a number of All-ACC underclassmen returning in 2023 and a juicy matchup awaiting at Hard Rock Stadium.

Even with Tennessee’s starting quarterback and one-time Heisman Trophy favorite Hendon Hooker out for the year and four players (three from Tennessee and Clemson defensive end Myles Murphy) having opted out of the game to get a head start on NFL Draft prep.

“And as far as being motivated, both these teams have won 11 games,” Swinney said. “You don’t go 11-2 if you’re a team that doesn’t have good leadership because it’s hard to win. It’s really hard to win. So to win 11 games in today’s world in college football is special.”

Indeed, outside of BCS national championship games and CFP semifinals and national championship games, this is the highest ranked Orange Bowl matchup since 2003, when No. 5 Southern Cal toppled No. 3 Iowa.

But it’s also a bit tainted, with an air of missed opportunities lingering in south Florida. The Volunteers certainly didn’t imagine themselves here when they beat then-No. 3 Alabama with a walk-off field goal and debuted at No. 1 in the initial CFP Top 25 rankings.

Neither did Clemson, which debuted at No. 4 in the rankings and, even after the Notre Dame loss, would’ve been in a tantalizing position for the committee as a one-loss Power Five conference champion had the Tigers gotten past South Carolina in their regular-season finale.

Coach Shane Beamer’s Gamecocks ended up eliminating both teams from CFP contention in consecutive weeks, routing Tennessee 63-38 and then orchestrating a second-half comeback in Death Valley to beat top rival Clemson 31-30 and snap a 40-game home winning streak.

“To have a great season, you have to manage success,” Swinney said. “You’ve got to manage failure along the way. When you look back at the end like ‘Man, there’s only four teams right now that get to go to the playoff’ … (It’s) disappointing in the moment. But for us, you go back to work.”

For Clemson, going back to work meant routing North Carolina 39-10 in the ACC championship game behind a scintillating performance from Klubnik and securing an Orange Bowl bid after missing its first New Year’s Six game since 2014 last year.

Now Tennessee — and opportunity — await.

“There’s 365 days,” Swinney said. “If everything goes perfect in our world, you get 15 days to play the game that you love, right? (The other 350 days) you’re just working and training and grinding. So it’s another day to go play.”

Clemson injury update

Clemson starting cornerback Sheridan Jones is dealing with a hip flexor injury and questionable to play in the Orange Bowl, Swinney said Thursday.

“It’s going to be close,” Swinney said.

Jones, a senior who’s started all 10 games he’s played in this season, practiced Tuesday in a yellow non-contact jersey and didn’t dress for Wednesday’s practice – which is generally viewed as a step back in a player’s recovery process.

The 6-foot senior, who’s held down one of Clemson’s outside cornerback positions alongside Nate Wiggins all season, has 27 total tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss this year. He previously missed three games with a shoulder/neck stinger.

If Jones can’t play, Clemson will likely turn to true freshmen Toriano Pride Jr. and Jeadyn Lukus, who are listed as backups on this week’s depth chart. Safety Andrew Mukuba, who plays multiple positions, could also take more cornerback snaps.

Orange Bowl game, TV info

Who: No. 6 Tennessee (10-2) vs. No. 7 Clemson (11-2)

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Fla.

TV: ESPN

Betting line: Clemson by 5.5 points